Actor Priyanka Chopra, who has made her mark both in Bollywood as well as Hollywood, has opened up about leaving the Indian film industry and moving to the US in search of work. In a recent interview that has gone viral, she spoke about being “pushed into a corner” in Bollywood.
She also mentioned that there were people in the industry who did not cast her and how politics took a toll on her.
From Miss World to Hollywood, Priyanka Chopra Has Made A Mark Internationally
Chopra’s career began when she won the Miss World pageant in 2000 and debuted in Bollywood with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy in 2003. And then there was no looking back. The actor received two National Film Awards, a Padma Shri and theTime magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Following this, Forbes listed her among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women and in 2022, she was named in the BBC 100 Women list.
Following back-to-back hits with Barfi, Mary Kom and Bajirao Mastani, Chopra debuted in Hollywood with the ABC thriller series Quantico and became the first South Asian to headline an American network drama series. From 2015 to 2021, Chopra has appeared in four international films including Baywatch, Isn't It Romantic, The White Tiger and The Matrix Resurrections and is set to appear in the international Amazon Prime Original series Citadel this April.
Chopra’s first international exposure happened when she showcased her singing talent with songs like In My City and Exotic, which also featured American rapper Pitbull.
However, she never spoke about the career leap that she took and the reason behind it until now.
Priyanka Chopra’s Viral Interview
In an interview with Dax Shepherd on his podcast, Armchair Expert, Chopra said, “I was being pushed into a corner in the industry (Bollywood). I had people not casting me, I had beef with people, and I am not good at playing that game, so I kind of was tired of the politics and I said I needed a break.”
“This music thing gave me an opportunity to go into another part of the world, not crave for the movies I didn't want to get, but I would require to schmooze certain clubs and cliques of people. It would require grovelling and I had worked a long time by then that I didn't feel like I wanted to do it. So when this music thing came I was like 'fu** it I'm going to America',” she further said.
Reactions On Priyanka Chopra’s Viral Interview
Actor Kangana Ranaut took to Twitter and wrote, “This is what @priyankachopra has to say about bollywood, people ganged up on her, bullied her and chased her out of film industry” a self made woman was made to leave India. Everyone knows Karan Johar had banned her.” (sic)
“Media wrote extensively about her fall out with Karan Johar because of her friendship with SRK and movie mafia Cruella who is always looking for vulnerable outsiders saw a perfect punching bag in PC and went all out in harassing her to a point where she had to leave India,” she wrote.
Taking further dig at filmmaker Johar, she wrote, “This obnoxious, jealous, mean and toxic person should be held accountable for ruining the culture and environment of film industry which was never hostile to outsiders in the days of AB or SRK.His gang and mafia PR should be raided and held accountable for harassing outsiders.”
Fans have been praising Chopra since the interview went viral. Some called her a “phoenix” and some said her book title Unfinished suits her.
"I'm so proud of Priyanka Chopra, people tried to break her and that only made her stronger, she definitely is a Phoenix, and deserve all the good things that are coming to her way now," read a tweet.
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While another user wrote, “I love that she almost 16 years later continues showing them that she is not FINISHED, just is growing and growing day by day.”
"It's soo iconic of Priyanka Chopra to name her memoir 'Unfinished' because ICYMI at one point she was completely written off in Bollywood with negative articles that had her on the cover with the title ‘Finished’,” wrote another.