Critical acclaim secured Priyanka Chopra’s position as an actor
Priyanka Chopra Jonas became Miss World in 2000 and soon after entered movies with the 2002 Tamil film ‘Thamizhan’. Although she made a successful entry into movies and eventually Bollywood, she revealed that it was only after the release of the 2006 film ‘Krrish’ that she got into the position of picking and choosing projects.
In a conversation with Bhumi Pednekar during a masterclass at the 2023 Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, Priyanka opened up about how critical acclaim secured her position as an actor.
When Bhumi asked Priyanka about the time when she got into a position to pick and choose cinema, the ‘Barfi’ star replied, “Many, many films later. I think around the first ‘Krrish’ maybe somewhere there. Before that, there was always, ‘Oh my God, what’s the next one I am going to do? What opportunity is going to come to me?’ I picked from what came to me.”
Priyanka, who is now pursuing a career in Hollywood, added, “After the first ‘Krrish’, because I had just done ‘Aitraaz’ as well, I had done work that gave me a solid foundation. I got critical acclaim. I had people tell me that I knew my job, even though I didn’t know that I knew it. But that was a very clear time when I started seeking work that would challenge me.”
However, Chopra’s moment of glory arrived when she starred in the Madhur Bhandarkar directorial ‘Fashion’, for which she also won a National Award. At the time, many warned her against playing the lead in a female-oriented movie.
“ ‘Fashion’ was a time when I took that decision. It was right around ‘Krrish’ that Madhur sir and I met. At that time, I was told that ‘You have just done ‘Krrish’ and ‘Aitraaz’. You are having such a moment. Why are you doing ‘Fashion’? Girls do female-oriented roles towards the end of their careers to get a National Award. You have just started. Why are you doing it?’ In that era, this wasn’t common. This is early 2005 or 2006. But I just didn’t know any better,” she said.
Priyanka won the National Film Award for ‘Best Actress’ for her performance in ‘Fashion’. During the masterclass, she said that maybe Madhur Bhandarkar knew what the film would do.
Priyanka Chopra will next be seen in the Hollywood film ‘Heads of State’ with Idris Elba and John Cena.
