Priyanka Chopra: I am unapologetic about being a thumka maaro-ing heroine

'Epic fabulousness' is how Priyanka Chopra defines her current state of mind. In the capital to campaign for Girl Rising India – the Indian leg of a global initiative that promotes girls’ education – the 'thumka maaro-ing Hindi movie heroine' tells us why she is protective towards India and that actresses can be friends too.
I am always overprotective about India when I go abroad Internationally, everyone keeps pointing fingers at India and saying that they have this problem and that problem and I know we do.Every country has its problems and we’ll figure out our issues.I go abroad so often and you always feel so cornered and not have an answer. I get overprotective about India whenever I have these conversations. I go in complete Jhansi ki Rani mode, ki “Sirf problems nahi hai!” I have been dealing with it since my school days in the US. We were in a world history class, studying about India. And a lot of the kids would come and ask me, “Do you go to school on bullock carts?”And so I did this big project on modern day India – talking about how evolved everything is, the education, technology, the kind of support that we provide to the US. I, of course, got an A+ on it. Whatever work I do, I try to stay away from the stereotype of what India should be. Even with Planes, which was a small dub role, I spoke naturally and not in the joke of an Indian accent that has been created.
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I am unapologetic about being a thumka maaro-ing heroine We live in a male dominated world and that’s a battle we fight every day. And that trickles down to films also. It’s a catch-22 situation for me. I need to do big budget movies and maybe play second to a boy, for me and my producer to be able to make a film like Mary Kom. It’s a balance that you need to have. Having said that, it’s not like I hate doing those movies. I have withdrawal symptoms when I don’t do a song in two months. I feel like, “Yaar, bade dino se gaana hi nahi kiya.” I am a thumka maaro-ing Hindi movie heroine and am completely unapologetic about it. But yes, I do like to take on parts which, even in those films, let me do a little more. I am thankfully, in a place where filmmakers do that for me. I am fortunate enough to have scripts specially written for me.
I am really proud of Mary Kom for the opening it got What I was most excited about Mary Kom was the business we did. Usually, when it comes to girl-centric movies, you open really small and then you stutter and stammer and over four months it reaches something like a `50-60crore, maybe up to a `100crore. But with Mary Kom, we opened so huge. It was a benchmark, it’s never happened. And that, for me, was a victory for actresses. I don’t want to call them female-oriented, you don’t call other movies male-oriented. Basically, movies with female protagonists, when they do well money-wise, humaara auda badhta hai as female professionals. I am glad to be making these choices and spearheading the battle in this direction. It’s great that girls are taking up such scripts and that people are going to watch them. It is a small change but I am hoping with the steps that I take, the future generations will have more choices than just being the shadow behind the main hero.
Bringing Girl Rising to India Girl Rising came to me about three years ago. The film had actresses from all over the world and they wanted me from India. The Indian story is about a girl – Ruksana – from the streets of Kolkata who is going to school despite everything that is happening around her. I was really excited about telling her story because I loved the positivity of it. When the organizers asked me to be a part of the Indian version, I was like, “Yes! Of course, please.” In India, the education and overall relevance of women is such a prevalent problem which is why it is so important for this film to get all the attention it deserves. Here, we anyway don’t consider documentaries as entertainment. But this film brings with it a sense of hope.
We finally have proof that female actresses can be friends We needed a lot of support from actresses in India to tell this story the way it deserved to be told. I was initially sceptical. But we got nine mainstream Bollywood actresses on board with this and it took me one phone call. Everyone I called said yes and came together for me. First of all, this is such a break from the fact that female actresses don’t get along. So we finally have proof.
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