Priyanka Chopra: A global – Indian Woman of Inspiration

Priyanka Chopra: A global – Indian Woman of Inspiration

Miss World, an international actress, writer, producer, singer, author, is one of the many hats Ms. Priyanka Chopra Jonas wears. From a relatively humble upbringing to being one of the top global stars, Priyanka Chopra has had an eventful career.

Early Life

PC was born in India in 1982 to Indian Army physicians. At the age of 12, Priyanka moved to US to attend school and stayed with her aunt. 

Bullying

It was in the US where Priyanka first faced her issues with teenage bullying. She was bullied by her classmate, who would verbally harass her and often pushed her against the locker. The bullying broke her down mentally, leading her to crawl inside a shell and lose all self-confidence. 

Miss India

While Priyanka Chopra had all the looks and charm to win a beauty pageant, she was more interested in pursuing Astrophysics. It was sheer luck that her brother, Siddharth, who was 10 at the time, sent her pictures to the Miss India beauty pageant, following which she received a call.

Initially, her father was a little reluctant. Still, her mother had complete confidence in her daughter, and eventually, her family encouraged her to participate. She finished as the runner-up in Miss India, which led her to represent Miss India World. 

In 2000, she was crowned Miss World, becoming the 5th Indian contestant to win the title. Winning the title brought her to recognition, receiving various offers for brands and movies.

The attention also led to a lot of male attraction, with boys wooing her. This made her Dad, who was protective of her daughter, uncomfortable. Reportedly, he built bars around windows in their house to avoid any unwanted visitors. 

Film Debut

Her first film offer was Humraaz in 2002, directed by Abbas-Mustan. However, owing to commitment issues from both ends, Priyanka was later replaced in the film by Amisha Patel. 

Priyanka made her official debut in the Tamil film, Thamizhan, starring opposite Tamil Superstar Vijay. She also made her singing debut in the same movie, singing the track Ullathai Killathe. Vijay, who heard her singing in the sets, was impressed by her voice and encouraged her to sing. 

Bollywood Debut

Her Bollywood Debut was in Anil Sharma’s, The Hero: Love Story of a Spy, starring Sunny Deo and Preity Zinta alongside her. The movie was a box-office success and was received decently by Critics bringing a spotlight on her performance. 

Andaaz was her second film alongside Akshay Kumar and Lara Dutta. It was critically appreciated for her performance which led to her earning her first Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.

Rise in Bollywood

Following the success in Andaaz, she went on to do more films, with the most notable being Aitraaz, in which she played an antagonist, which got her the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role. 

Rough Patch

Following a brief stint with success, she went on to do films that weren’t commercially or critically successful. Many deemed her career to be over. However, all of this was changed with her 2008 film Fashion, directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. 

2008

2008 could be termed as a defining point in her film career. Her film Fashion was widely appreciated and led her to win the National Award for Best Actress. She also won the Filmfare, IIFA, and Screenplay Awards for best actress. 

In that year, her second film was Dostana, an unconventional and experimental film in Bollywood, earning her praises for her character. The successes in 2008 led to her comeback as one of the A-Listers in Bollywood. 

Acting Prowess

While Priyanka was appreciated for her acting skills, she was primarily considered to bring glamour to the film. She cemented her place as one of the finest actresses in India with the movie 7 Khoon Maaf, which was based on the Ruskin Bond story, Susana’s Seven Husbands. Her role was widely appreciated, with critics noting the depth she brought to the film. 

Barfi, which was released in 2012, challenged Priyanka in a new role where she had to depict an autistic woman. Her performance won her all the glory, with many saying, “it was the best depiction of an autistic person on the silver screen.”

Hollywood

She became the first Indian star to sign to Creative Stars Agency, a Talent Agency based in California. This led to her bagging various opportunities and stints in Hollywood movies and shows.

While she had already made her name in Bollywood as an A-Lister, her first knock with Hollywood came as a voice-over artist. She lent her voice to the Pixar Film, Planes, in which she voiced a Pan- Asian champion from India. She was a big fan of Pixar, and getting the opportunity to work on a Pixar film was a dream come true. 

Her most significant success in Hollywood was signing onto the ABC Show Quantico. She had to portray the role of an FBI Agent. This made her the first South Asian to headline an American Network Drama Series. Interestingly, that was the first-ever role she auditioned for. She got success through her Pageant win and didn’t have to audition before.

Her role in Quantico was appreciated and led her to win the People’s Choice Award for Favourite Actress In A New TV Series. The success of Quantico brought her many offers in Hollywood. 

Baywatch was her first Hollywood live-action debut. She starred alongside Hollywood A-Listers, Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron. The film, even though it wasn’t critically acclaimed, Priyanka’s performance, in particular, was appreciated cementing her role as a Hollywood Star. 

Other Ventures

• Music Career

Priyanka was a good singer, as frequently described by her Co-Stars. However, she never really sang professionally after her debut song Ullathai Killathe. Her father was her primary influence in developing an interest in singing.

Her First Single was In My City, in 2012, featuring American rapper, songwriter will.i.am. The song received mixed reviews. While it was a success in India, it didn’t make a mark in the US.

Her next Single was Exotic featuring American Rapper Pitbull, which was received better and was ranked on the Billboards. The song peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

She made her Bollywood music debut with the song Chaoro from her film Mary Kom. She further sang in a couple more Indian Films, including Dil Dhadakne Do and some regional movies. 

• Global Icon

While Priyanka had made her name as a global superstar, she was deeply inclined to help others and use her voice as a public figure to solve issues of the masses. Her Childhood bullying left a profound impact, and she resolved to help out people. 

She is an active champion in raising her voice against female issues like female foeticide, infanticide and promoting Girl Education. She opened her foundation, The Priyanka Chopra Foundation for Health and Education, which supports unprivileged children across the country in Education and Health.

She has actively worked with UNICEF raising her voice for child rights and education, being vocal through Social Media, panel discussion, media interviews, and active philanthropy. She was appointed National UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Child Rights in 2010. 

She is also close to Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, and maintained a close friendship. She attended the Royal Wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan. She was one of the very few celebrities attending the exclusive wedding.

• Writer

Priyanka had a flair for writing where she penned her thoughts in a column for Hindustan Times. While she was nervous about publicly sharing her views, she quickly realized that writing inspired her. 

Following her column, she started working on her memoir, which was titled Unfinished. It was released in Feb 2021, critically appraised, calling it “raw, emotional, and full of motivation.” Unfinished reached The New York Times Best Seller List in the United States and topped the Nielsen BookScan bestseller list in India.

• Producer

She set up her own production company, Purple Pebble Pictures, to produce artistic films with a relatively smaller budget and introduce and promote new talent in the Indian film industry, particularly regional Indian movies.

From Marathi to Assamese, and even Nepali, Purple Pebble Pictures has released over 10 films, extending her support to the regional cinema. 

• Investor

Being the self-made person she is, Priyanka had a keen eye on Investing and believed Investing to be one of the best ways to encourage new products. She invested in the dating app startup Bumble, which was released in India with her support. 

One of the other significant investments made by the star has been Holberton, which is situated in the heart of global tech entrepreneurship, Silicon Valley. Holberton is a school specializing in Computer Science aiming to promote education for people aspiring to become software engineers. Priyanka always believed in women empowerment and thus joined Holberton as one of their board of directors in 2018.

Personal Life

Priyanka has been extremely close to her family, making sure to take out her busy schedule to spend time with her family.  Dr. Ashok Chopra, her father, was diagnosed with Cancer which led to his death in 2013. Her father’s death had a significant impact on her as she was the closest to her father. She got a tattoo “Daddy’s Lil Girl” in his handwriting in 2012.

Her relationship with her future husband, Nick Jonas, started with a random Twitter DM. While they didn’t start dating, there was a lot of casual flirtatious fun involved. Their relationship stayed restricted till social media until 2017, when they met for the first time at the Oscar party. The first meet was enough for both to realize they’re genuinely attracted to each other and thus started a blossoming relationship.

They started dating and officially got married a year later, in December 2018. Their wedding became the talk of the town, with everyone from Bollywood to Hollywood congratulating the power couple.