She juggles as many roles in real life as she does in reel life. A former Miss World, Priyanka Chopra is a Bollywood superstar, an international recording artist, a UN Goodwill Ambassador, a child-rights activist, the face of several high-profile products, and now she has made a foray into Hollywood lending her voice to the Disney animation movie Planes. She is admired the world over, with around 6.7 million likes on Facebook and more than 5 million followers on Twitter, she is said to be one of the highest-paid Bollywood actresses. Priyanka reportedly charges Rs90 million (Dh5,3 million) for a movie, making her the highest-paid actress.
Most recently she hit headlines when she joined the likes of Claudia Schiffer, Adriana Lima and Kate Upton to become the new face of Guess clothing. Her stunning black and white ad campaign photos were taken by Canadian rock star and photographer Bryan Adams.
“Oh yeah, I’m just loving what I do,’’ says the 31-year-old star. “I love being creative. I love being an actor, I love writing, music... When do I relax and recharge? When I’m at work, the moment between ‘action’ and ‘cut’.’’
And how does she feel being right on top? “It’s lonely where I am but it’s incredibly satisfying,” she says.
Without doubt Priyanka is a phenomenon. Not content with being a Bollywood siren she’s signed a worldwide recording contract with Desi Hits and is being managed by the people behind Lady GaGa’s success.
After collaborating with Sam Watters, Matthew Koma and Jay Sean on her first music album – and debuting her first single In My City with rapper will.i.am on the NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football, guaranteeing instant chart success – for her new single, Exotic, she teamed up with American rapper Pitbull. Not bad for the girl from a backwater in Bareilly, a small town in India.
“Chopra’s confidence, strength and sensuality reflect the qualities I always look for in a model and she reminds me of a young Sophia Lauren,” Paul Marciano, CEO, creative director and co-founder of Guess, said of her. “With the Indian movie industry exploding on a global stage we could not have found a better global brand ambassador.”
Priyanka says she never really planned her career or her life and definitely did not set out to be an actor. “I wanted to be an aeronautical engineer. Going to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US was my ambition in life,’’ she says. But she began to accept roles in Bollywood following her Miss World win and then, she says, “somewhere along the way I realised ‘Hey, I love doing what I do!’’’
The actress took a huge risk accepting a negative role in her very first film, Aithraz – something many Bollywood actors refuse for fear of being typecast or upsetting their fan base. Priyanka was praised by critics for her role as Sonia Roy, an ambitious woman who accuses her male employee of sexual harassment. But once that became a hit, there was no looking back. She was flooded with more offers and went on to do challenging roles including one in 7 Khoon Maaf – in which her character marries seven men and murders them all – and playing an autistic girl in Barfi!
Priyanka is not shy at trying her hand at biopics either. When five-time world boxing champion Indian Mary Kom punched her way into the limelight after winning a bronze at the last Olympics, Priyanka promptly signed up to portray her. The film about Kom, who was born to a landless farmer in Manipur, northeastern India, and overcame many challenges to make a name for herself, struck a chord with the actor. “Her story is the same as mine. I, too, struggled when I came into the industry and cried alone. It is basically the story of every girl who has a dream,” Priyanka says.
A passion for helping others
As the Goodwill Ambassador for Unicef, Priyanka works tirelessly for the cause of girls in India. “I guess the passion for social responsibility was sown early in my life,’’ she says. Her parents, Ashok and Madhu Chopra, who were doctors in the Indian Army, would conduct medical camps in small villages that had no health-care facilities. “My job was to help the pharmacist hand out pills to the patients. I took my job very seriously,” she says.
When she turned 13, Priyanka was sent to live in Queens, New York, with an aunt so she could get an American education.
“From Bareilly, in India, I was transported to American high school culture in the heart of Queens, almost overnight.
“High school, as you know, can be the world’s biggest culture shock and for me it was multiplied by a billion! It was a completely new and a foreign move for my life as I had known it.
“I went from being this good Indian girl from a small town in India to being a soul sister in my head, complete with the braids, puffy jackets and gold hoops on my ears. I spent all my pocket money on clothes. I was a good girl but I still managed to give my family a few sleepless nights,’’ she revealed recently.
When she was 17, she returned to her family in India and, six months later, walked away with the Miss World title in 2000 at London’s Millennium Dome.
The title catapulted her to stardom and Bollywood, where she went on to win a clutch of awards, including one of the prestigious Filmfare awards, which recognise Bollywood films, while gaining millions of fans.
Today, she understands the power of stardom and wants to use it to make a difference. “It’s an important part of who I am. It’s a very individual thing, the feeling of giving back is very personal.”
Many movies and millions of rupees-worth of endorsements later, Priyanka is not showing any signs of slowing down. “Why do I push myself so much? I actually don’t know why,’’ she laughs. “I’m still figuring myself out. I think this is my own process of growing a little bit.
“I started working when I was very young. My professional career started when I became Miss World and it’s not stopped since.
“I never went to acting school and had no one to guide me when I was 18 years old and in the movie business.’’
Does she believe she has competition? “I’m a person who competes with myself. And I try to better myself – with every film that I do, I want to do something that pushes me beyond myself as an actor and my comfort zone. I’m very proud of the films that I’m doing right now.”
Publicly loved, privately lonely
She admits she felt lonely in the beginning, “and extremely scared because I didn’t know what I was doing. I made my mistakes, I fell, I got up and dusted myself off and continued. I taught myself everything I know…
“But the good thing is that I was fortunate to work with some incredible, talented people.’’
While she gleaned valuable experience over the years, she says she hasn’t changed inside.
“I think I’m still the same girl. I still have my fears, my insecurities. I do feel lost so many times. The past two years have been tough [she lost her father to cancer in June this year, after a long period of illness] and the only thing that has stood by me has been my work. I just wear my blinkers and go to work. It’s the only way I know how to achieve things that I want.’’
Ask Priyanka what she thinks makes her tick and she will say it’s her natural mix of East and West. “My go-to soul food is daal and rice or a double-baked cheeseburger. I am comfortable walking the red carpet in the latest haute couture and also in exquisite saris. My music box will pump out Rihanna but at the same time I also have the latest Bollywood chart-busters on it,” she says.
Priyanka is nothing but flexible. “I still don’t know who I am. I still don’t know what I’m going to do. Whether I’ll take the right step or not. Everything for me is an experiment. I never pick the safe option. I don’t know why I do that. I guess I’m the kind of person that the more difficult something is the more I want it.”
An actor who works hard on giving her best, she adds, “No work for me is big or small. Whether it’s an interview, a scene or a movie or my song. Everything for me is just as important.”
As for taking a holiday, she says she hasn’t had one in 16 years. “There are very few people in the world who get to do what they love to do. So why would I take a break?’’ she asks.
However, moving to a music career in the West has been a challenge and Priyanka is the first to admit this. “I’m pretty sure that for every successful person, once they decide to diversify themselves, it is scary… My heart flutters and there is an emptiness in my stomach,” she says, pointing out that there weren’t many role models to look up to or follow. “Not many have gone from acting into music. It is a completely diverse, big experiment. I am new at this, it is my first year in music and it will take me some time, and I hope to turn into a musician. That’s one dream of mine.’
Does the small-town girl from the pre-Miss World days still lurk inside her somewhere? Or has she developed a taste for only the finer things? “I enjoy the little things in life,” she says. “Just as in the past, even today it’s the small things that make me happy.
“I always woke up in the morning and put on really loud music and danced in the shower and I still do. I was afraid that I might slip and fall in the bathroom, but that did not stop me from doing it.
“I love going to diners and eating pizza, so I think I’m the same person. I treat my job as a job – I don’t see it as a lifestyle.”
So what prevents all the fame and riches going to her head? “My family,’’ she says. “Yeah, they have never treated me differently. Acting is a job, it doesn’t change who I am. It might change my lifestyle, but I don’t let it own who I am. My family keeps me grounded.”
So what’s her secret for living life to the fullest? “I like to push the envelope a little bit. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. When it works it’s fine, and when it doesn’t you have to get up, dust yourself off and try something else. I feel the world is my oyster and it should be for every young person.”
From the small town of Bareilly to Bollywood and beyond, Priyanka has made it big. Being an Indian means a great deal to her, she says. “I’m a middle-class girl from a small town in India and today I’m living the dream. It’s almost unbelievable for me – and I guess that proves everyone has a chance. If I can do it, then anybody can.”
