The gorgeous actress who felt out of place in her initial days in Bollywood has now firmly entrenched in the industry having her own entity as the most promising star in Indian film industry. A tête-à-tête with Former Miss World Priyanka Chopra who is riding high with the success of her recent films…
Realising that you had four back to back flops last year (Chamku, Love Story 2050, God Tussi Great Ho! And Drona) we could say that the last quarter of 2008 has been quite lucky for you with smash hits like Fashion and Dostana. Congratulations!
Thanks a ton! After God Tussi Great Ho and Drona, I was truly heartbroken. Fashion and Dostana seem to have given me rebirth of sorts. These films were much more successful than my expectations.
We hear that you had a tough time losing weight for Dostana after having to put on a few extra kilos for Fashion.
You could say that. I am not at all diet conscious. I had to put on some weight for Fashion since I was playing a small-town Punjabi girl who eventually becomes a super model, but for Dostana, I had to lose the seven kilos that I had put on. And I had to get in shape as well. Moreover I had a hard core diet, I had a proper workout schedule.
You were seen flaunting a range of clothes from designer wear, while sashaying down the ramp, to t-shirts and jeans while portraying a model’s normal life in the movie Fashion.
To cut the long story short, I would say that I wore 137 costumes in Fashion. It was required as my character goes through a huge journey in one-and-a-half years. And we had a lot of montages in the film, a lot of ad commercials and of course fashion shows. This is why the requirement of costumes was so high for my character.
Which films of yours can we look forward to this year? And which film are you most excited about?
This year I am going to have only two releases. One is Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kameenay opposite Shahid Kapur and the other one is Ashutosh Gowariker’s What's your Rashi opposite Harman Baweja. Both of them I am very excited about because my roles in both of them are extremely interesting and very different to something I have ever done before. I really can't take a pick for there's only two.
Is it true that you are playing 12 different characters in What's your Rashi?
That’s true. It's one of the most difficult films I have worked in. What is so difficult about it, why is it difficult, I can only speak when the film is closer to release.
Let's move on to Kameenay.
I play a Maharashtrian college-going girl. The role is very different for me for sure because I don’t know Marathi at all and I did not learn it. The language is beautiful. It’s so rustic but it’s very difficult for a Punjabi to get the Marathi accent right for sure. But I worked on it and I am hoping it will come out right.
You wore skimpy outfits in Fashion and bared your cleavage in Dostana. How do you take skin show in Bollywood as?
See, where there’s a demand, there’s a supply. Had films with skin show not been doing well, we would have stopped making them. People want to watch such films.
Kameeney too is said to have many intimate scenes.
I can’t really reveal all the details to you, but yeah, I have done a little bit more than usual in this film. I do have a kissing scene and a few love making scenes with Shahid. Because this is what the script demanded, I agreed to do it.
You are termed as a workaholic in film fraternity. How true is that?
Very true indeed! As a matter of fact, with six movies having released in 2008, I haven't had the time to either mourn or enjoy the fruits when a film released. I did not get the time to mourn the failure of any of my films. The moment one got released, I was into promoting the next, so on and so forth. If I am not filming, I would be found reading scripts or selecting outfits for my next movie.
Ambitious, are you?
I would rather describe myself as someone who’s honest and straightforward, but not indiscriminately ambitious. The day I realise that I don’t want to get up and put on make-up for a shoot, I will give it all up!
Given your busy schedule, how could you manage to do a song alongwith Kareena and Deepika for Shah Rukh’s upcoming movie, Billu Barber?
Undeniably, I am Shah Rukh’s biggest fan on earth. I don’t see myself saying no to him for anything. He simply has to tell what I am supposed to do, and I would be on. In fact, people ask me why I wasn't there in the song featuring all the heroines with Shah Rukh in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
In this short career span you have portrayed a wide range of characters.
I strive hard each day to grow as an actor. I have always been experimenting on my roles. I just hope that when people look back in the history of Indian cinema, they admire my work and versatility as an actress. Besides, all other genres, I have also been part of the special effects cinema like Krissh, Drona and Love Story 2050.
So, no time for love in 2009 as well?
(Laughs) Well, I have always believed that true love will find you and so will the right man. I just make sure that I do not close my mind to possibilities and do not work on the 'he-must-be-like-this' list. Being a die-hard romantic, I believe that when love happens, there will be church bells that will go off in my head. I believe that when I meet the person that I am meant to be with, his face will be constantly in front of my eyes. I believe I will hear violins and orchestra. I really believe all that. And I don’t look for it. I am a big believer in destiny. So when it’s meant for me, it will happen.
You have never been very candid about your relationships.
I am a celebrity, so I guess it’s justified that people are curious about what goes on in my personal life. But I don’t need to give any justification about what’s happening in my life to anyone. You could say that I know where to draw the line. I would hate the world to know about who I am seeing or where I eat or sleep. That’s nobody’s business for sure.
How do you define your success journey so far?
Euphoric! I feel that my strategy of not resting on the laurels of my being a former Miss World has paid rich dividends. Today whatever I am is because of my hard work. I may have got my first couple of films because of my title, but it’s ultimately your work that will speak for you. I could have easily been chucked into the dustbin if I was bad. I am so grateful that it did not happen to me and that I was welcomed so lovingly by the film industry.
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