Exclusive: I have no intentions of putting the brakes on films: Priyanka Chopra

With ‘Mary Kom’, Priyanka Chopra has proven two points subtly but with a solid punch. First, she is an independent star, sans a leading man, with the ability to pull in audiences. Second, she can never be written off, and can act well enough to shut out all critics. She’s proud of the film’s acceptance with the audience despite no item numbers, teasers or playing to the gallery. In an exclusive interview to Pinkvilla, PeeCee fills in AK on her films, music, being competitive and complimentary towards fellow heroines, and leaves a tantalizing question mark on her relationship status.

Now that ‘Mary Kom’ has become the highest grosser for a female lead film, do you feel vindicated, somewhat? Is there a sense of victory?

(smirks) I was never persecuted, why should I be vindicated?!

I ask because, at the film trade level too, a film led by a woman is often viewed with skepticism and is not considered bankable.

Of course, it should be at the trade level, we’ve never been able to bring in the numbers like the boys do. They make 200 crores with a film, we’ve never been able to do that. Lets face it, films are a business at the end of the day. I understand the skepticism, very few female actors have been able to pull off a movie on their shoulders, and have been able to get the number. Slowly, I think, the tide is changing.

It’s going to be a slow time, but it will happen eventually. But it’s a great time for India, there is a metamorphosis overall. Look at the atrocities committed against women. Girls are no longer sitting at home, but are getting out there and fighting for justice. Men are standing up for girls, media and society are also speaking up for women. There’s awareness in public.

And that’s reflecting in films too. Girls are doing a lot more in films. And I am not saying ‘female centric’ films, I Hate that word! When you see a poster usually, you don’t say it’s a ‘male centric’ film, chal Friday ko male centric film dekhte hain. So why call them ‘female centric’ films? Don’t put a gender bias on us. Judge us as actors on our ability to act. When it comes to ‘Mary Kom’, the fact that the film grossed the kind of money it did, I see it as a success for female actors. I see it as my success too, but I think with many such films, there will be a change.

Be it Alia in ‘Highway’, Vidya in ‘Kahaani’, Rani in ‘Mardaani’, or ‘Queen’, with more female actors taking up such films, people will watch them too, and things will change.

Have your contemporary female actors seen the film, and have they complimented you for it?

Yes! Lots of them.. Film business has been extremely kind, the industry has been very very kind with their praise for me in this film (smiles).

Is there any one compliment from a contemporary heroine that you could tell us?

I don’t know about others, but I consider the work I do as art. I think we are artists, not just actors. I think we create. I feel a purity towards my work, it’s almost spiritual. Whatever be the length of a role, be it 2 scenes or 25, it doesn’t matter. So when I see good art, good work from other fellow actors, I appreciate it. I’ve got amazing compliments from so many female actors, without taking any names, some have said they cried while watching it. So when your colleagues compliment you, it’s very heart warming.

While promoting ‘Mary Kom’, you’ve also been shooting for ‘Dil Dhadhakne Do’. It’s a very anticipated film. Are you going to be more selective towards the films you sign now, since you’ve got quite a few decent ones in hand?

God no! I love the job that I do, I love acting in movies. I am doing 3 currently, there is also ‘Madamji’ in which I act and produce. Then there is ‘Bajirao Mastani’, plus there is my music in LA. I am planning something special there soon, as I have taken a long break of 3-4 months for Mary Kom.

So I have no intentions of putting the brakes on or slowing down on films (smiles). If I was doing rubbish work, then I would perhaps pick 1 out of 25. But everything I am doing is quite great and my roles in these films are great. I am working with directors like Sanjay Bhansali, Zoya Akhtar and Madhur Bhandarkar. Why should I not do more?

Tell us about how ‘Madamji’ is shaping up. Is the script complete?

The script is ready, we are just fine tuning it. Next is casting and getting the crew in place.

Is the film a political thriller?

It’s a fictional story, not a political thriller. But it is set in the backdrop of politics. In one line, it’s the story of an item girl who gets thrown into the big, bad world of politics. So it’s about her character, its grey, it’s black, its white, its good and bad and because she is an item girl, she is really funny. She is also growing in the film as she goes forward, as she is young. So it’s a masala film, and very entertaining. Besides ,Madhur is a very entertaining director and he is quite funny himself!

On ‘Dil Dhadhakne Do’, it’s supposed to be inspired from the very popular American TV series ‘Brothers and Sisters’…

Not at all. It’s a completely Indian story, its about a dysfunctional Indian family, how can it be ‘Brothers and Sisters’.

About your music career in LA, you’ve found acceptance, there have been positive reviews and positive media too. Do you also want to try out acting in a Hollywood film while you’re there?

I am managed by CAA Kwan in the USA. I don’t have a game plan, if something cool comes up, I will take it up. The only thing is, I don’t want to act or be part of a stereotype of India. I did some of my schooling in the US, I grew up there, and it irritated me whenever there was an Indian character they all ‘Talk Like That’ (adopts the Kumars at Number 62 accent). Who takes like that? Do any of us speak like that? Why should modern India be represented like that?

So I have my own, little issues with the stereotypes- not just the talking, but the henna, and the snake charmers. So I don’t want to live that stereotype. I am fine taking up a role that is ethnically ambiguous; it can be Indian, or Puerto Rican. I want to be working for because of my acting talent. Here in India today, we have so much talent, we just lack opportunity.

I want to do something that breaks clichés, for me my music was bit of that. Why does Bollywood have to be just a cliché? It doesn’t need to be maang tikka and Henna all the time. Like ‘Exotic’ with Pit Bull, I was just an exotic girl, could have been from any part of the world. So I don’t have a definite direction for my music career, but I just want to do good work and see where it goes. Sometimes it works, sometimes things don’t. But at least, they are all mine.

When you interact in LA with people from the music business, they don’t know you as a movie star. How do you balance this out - the movie star who gets media at the airport here in India, and there, as a relative fresher?

Yeah, I am a complete newcomer there (laughs). After a decade of acting in films here, I am a complete newcomer there and it’s fun. Actually in LA, it’s been quite funny. People don’t know me there, so when they see people who do know me for my films, they get really surprised. It’s very funny (laughs) I find it very interesting.

We were promoting ‘Exotic’ and was recording my next single. We had a milkshake launch planned after the song in Hollywood boulevard, which is quite central. So two of my music producers were travelling with me as I was coming from the studio. I told them there would be some press, and they do know that I am a popular movie star in another part of the world. When I stopped there, crowds went all around the block, traffic had slowed down, and sheriffs were called! They were like ‘Huh!’ Next day they had a lot of respect for me (laughs out loud). So it was very positive, and I wasn’t reprimanded. They don’t know how Indians fans really love their movie stars, our fans want to own you, touch you.
I completely belong to my fans, which is why I have been able to do my work, the kind of tedha things I do all the time. So I really belong to my fans.

But how do you balance this life between two cities and two showbiz careers? When do you work out..

I Don’t work out. I only worked out for ‘Mary Kom’, and my lifestyle currently is very unhealthy.

Must be tough though, to balance so much.

Life is tough man, so what do you do, just sit on your hands? Just go for the tough shit. Nothing prepares you for life like life itself. There’s no point in sitting down and wondering, I don’t like to take the easy way out. My career is testimony to that. You have to step into uncharted territory to do something different, to say ‘Okay I did something relevant, I did something worth being remembered for’. And I want to keep doing that, I have lot of years left to do that in. I want to constantly evolve.

While you have been so busy with music and your films, there have been lots of reports that you have differences with Anushka Sharma. I refer to Koffee with Karan episodes from this season here..

What happened on ‘Koffee with Karan’? I was there with Deepika.

There was a moment when Karan said to Deepika that ‘if you think Anushka Sharma likes you, then you are living in a bubble’, and you nudged her and said ‘pop’..

That was because of their history, I thought it was funny. It was not said in any seriousness.

But Anushka came along on the same show and said ‘I found Priyanka’s remark about me very funny’.

So it was funny!

Her tone, though, was not funny, it was not positive.

I don’t know.. Anushka and me actually get along really well. You all see too much into too many things with binoculars. What actors are like when the cameras are switched off are 'very different' than what actors are like when the cameras are switched on.

Aaah.. Noosh (Anushka) and I actually get along super well! She is great fun, we’ve been shooting together for the last 15 days or so. On the sets actually, its just me, Anushka and Zoya that hang out together. All the time. It clearly was a rumour and she’s never mentioned anything to me.

Also it has been reported that Kareena is not happy with your comments about the success of blockbusters not belonging to the heroine. How do you react to that?

I was only talking about my films. And I don’t think Kareena is the kind to say something like that. She is living her own life, great career, great life. Why should she be concerned about others? People always misconstrue my statements, its really irritating. I really wish they would print just what I say, because I do talk sense.

What I said was, when I refer to a film like Krishh 3 or a Don, you cannot give me complete credit for the movie. Because when it comes to 100 crore films, Hrithik and Shahrukh deserve the credit. They hold it up, I support them because no one can be ‘Junglee Billi’ quite like me man (smiles). Its not like you can’t give me any credit, but you cant call it my film.

Whereas in a ‘Barfi!’, the credit is as much mine as it is Ranbir’s and it is Ileana’s. A Mary Kom is all me, or say for Katrina, you cant take away her credit from ‘Rajneeti’ despite it being an ensemble. I am still talking about the 100 crore films here, so when it comes to ‘2 States’ Alia gets the credit as much as Arjun. And so does Deepika for ‘Chennai Express’.
It’s an honest statement. But it got misconstrued, and there’s an attempt to rake up a controversy. And I am not stupid, that’s one thing I am not.

But is there a lot of scrutiny on you, all the time? Be it your professional life or personal life?

It’s the price you pay.

And you’re okay with that?

Listen when I came into the movie business, I was 17-18 years old. I had no idea what this was. I thought it would like dress up - you wear make up, and you wear nice clothes, and you look nice, and its so much fun, and amazing; one year down the line, and your life’s hell. Its not fun all the time. But you have to make peace with the devil eventually.

The work that I do and the industry that I am in, I am a public person. Its upto me what I want to protect and don’t want to make public. And that’s something I do, like a tigress. What I don’t want to talk about is my personal space. I feel like 95 percent of my world belongs to the public, which I am very open about. I am very opinionated, I will answer any question you want. Except when it comes to my personal life. Because I feel like, that’s something I need to keep for myself, and that’s that.

That’s a fair point. Conclusively, I am pretty sure that I know the answer already, but in this whirlwind life of yours, do you have time to find a boyfriend, or are you still single?

(Laughs) I’ve always said that I don’t talk about my personal life, doesn’t mean I don’t have one.

So there is someone special…

There might have been, there might have not. Who is anyone to presume anything? (smiles naughtily) When there’s something relevant, I will make a lot of noise about it. As of now, its not relevant, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.