PRIYANKA CHOPRA HAD DREAMT OF CONQUERING THE WORLD

Priyanka Chopra is one girl, who I can claim to have met even before the world knew who she is, even before the girl from Barelly ended up winning the Miss India crown - Jyothi Venkatesh

It was at the launch of the small time actor turned director Attley Brar’s film Good Night Princess at a small cottage in Versova in Mumbai that I was introduced to her first. Pooja Batra was the other leading lady of the film.

Though luckily for Priyanka, the film did not even see the light of the day, Priyanka has since then grown in stature, ever since her film Andaaz was released and declared a big hit.

I still remember how almost twenty two years ago, Priyanka had rung her affable doctor father Dr Ashok Chopra on Bareily to tell him that she had met me at the mahurat in Mumbai.

Her father in turn had rung me up on my landline just to tell me that he was very thankful to me for having made his darling daughter comfortable in an alien city like Mumbai where she had come to take part in a shooting. How since then times have changed.

The shy dark and dusky girl is today an international icon on her own merit. And whatever she has achieved till date is undisputedly hers alone without the help of any Godfather.

Priyanka is gung ho about the way her career has progressed over the last 22 years. “I should say that it has been a very interesting journey for me as an actress ever since I had made my debut with Andaaz, considering the fact that I had no filmi background and I was also not from Mumbai, but from a small town like Barelly. I did not know what acting was and I was far too young at that point of time”.

Priyanka or PC as I fondly call her, reiterates that she is not at all a money- minded actress. “I work for the heart and not for the sake of money.

To me, money is not the only criterion, when I take up a film because I do not do films for the sake of money. I would not say no to a film just because I do not get big money.

If money is the sole criterion, I can always manage to get it by doing endorsements. It also does not mean that I would not charge my producer if he wants me to work in his film”.

As an actress who has acted in woman-centric films like Saat Khoon Maaf, What’s Your Raashi and Mary Kom, when I had asked Priyanka what she had to say about the great amount of disparity as far as remuneration for heroes and heroines are concerned in Bollywood, she quipped, “I have no other alternative but to agree that there is a disparity in remuneration for heroes and heroines.

But I feel that the day heroine-centric films do well, there will be no more disparity”. Priyanka believes that she is destiny’s favourite child and that there is an unseen hand on her head which guides her in the right direction.Her statement has indeed proved to be prophetic.

Even before her first Hollywood film hit theaters internationally and on home turf, Priyanka Chopra was already inundated with offers, as news of her next Hollywood film made headlines.

While the producers of Silas Howard's A Kid Like Jake confirmed that the global superstar was part of the film also starring Claire Danes of Romeo Juliet & The Hours fame and Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer , Priyanka was also in talks to board the New Line comedy “Isn’t It Romantic” opposite Rebel Wilson.

The film also starred Adam Levine and Liam Hemsworth. Priyanka Chopra ,who became a household name in America with her TV show Quantico , was also back on the small screen as the show was renewed for a third season.

Priyanka shot for “A Kid Like Jake” in June and then immediately begun her work on “Isn’t It Romantic” in July before returning to “Quantico”.

The biggest TV stars with lengthy seasons are usually able to fit only one film into their schedules since their television commitments are so taxing. However, Priyanka juggled two Hollywood films and one Bollywood film apart from shooting for Quantico.

Priyanka Chopra, India's first truly global superstar is being celebrated by the West and on home turf, with an enviable list of achievements that stand testimony to the major impact she continues to make.

The global icon made it to the Forbes' 2017 list of the world's most powerful women, where she featured alongside some of the most prolific women including world leaders and superstars in the entertainment industry including Oprah Winfrey, Taylor Swift , Beyonce,Hillary Clinton,Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Ivanka Trump among others.

The international superstar was part of Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list , an annual compilation of Indian celebrities based on their earnings during the 1st October 2016 to 30th September 2017 period.

With this, Priyanka Chopra also became the only female celebrity to be part of the Top 10 highest earning celebrities in the country .

The superstar came in at the 7th rank after Salman Khan ,Shah Rukh Khan, Virat Kohli , Akshay Kumar, Sachin Tendulkar and Aamir Khan.

Priyanka Chopra was estimated to have earned a whopping 68 crores in the year 2017 thanks to her show Quantico , her Hollywood debut Baywatch and her brand endorsement deals.

The star continued to rake in steady numbers as she had 2 Hollywood films on the cards - ‘A Kid Like Jake’ starring Jim Parsons, Claire Danes, and Octavia Spencer, and ‘Isn't It Romantic?’ starring Rebel Wilson, Adam Devine, and Liam Hemsworth, not to mention other exciting announcements in the pipeline.

When I asked her what her biggest fear in life is, she had replied, quite as a matter of fact, “My biggest fear in life has always been failure. Any day, fear is not an option in life.

I have always felt even as a little girl that rules break karne mein hi zyada maza aata hain. I am at that stage in my career when I am thrilled to do films of different genre.

I was part of Vishal Bharadwaj’s amazing film Saat Khoon Maaf, where I played the killer wife to seven different husbands, ranging from Naseeruddin Shah to Neil Nitin Mukesh.

I also did Kaminey for him and Don 2 for Farhan Akhtar. What more could I ask for? I took up hosting Fear Factor- Khatron Ke Khiladi because I felt that it would be interesting to do something which is different.

That was one reality show which was different in every respect when you compare it with other such reality shows on television today”.

Penguin Random House India’s annual 2017 Penguin Annual Lecture was delivered in New Delhi on 26 December by Priyanka Chopra, who is one of the most iconic and popular Indians in the world today, besides being a global entertainment personality, game changer and Unicef ambassador.

Priyanka Chopra has had a meteoric rise on the global stage with her hit TV show Quantico.

She won the People’s Choice Award for two consecutive years, and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world and one of Harper Bazaar’s 58 women game changers of the modern era. She was also on LinkedIn’s power profile list for 2017.

Priyanka Chopra is an icon for today’s young Indians who identify with her drive, passion, intelligence and charisma. She has been a social media trendsetter and has a massive fan base across the globe.

Much loved and admired as an artiste by people in India and around the world, she is also recognized as a global Indian — a woman who has broken the glass ceiling to reach the highest echelons of international stardom — and for her philanthropic work as UNICEF’s global goodwill ambassador.

One of the most prestigious and eagerly awaited cultural events on the calendar, the Penguin Annual Lecture, hosted by Penguin Random House India, was started in 2007 as an initiative to bring leading writers, artists, thinkers and key personalities from India and across the world in direct contact with audiences and admirers in India.

The first such event to be organized by a publishing house in India, the Penguin Annual Lecture is immensely popular with readers, book lovers, and the youth in particular.

This was the eleventh edition of the Penguin Annual Lecture; over the past ten years, speakers have included thought leaders like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Professor Amartya Sen, Thomas Friedman, Amitabh Bachchan, Ramachandra Guha, and beloved authors from both India and abroad like Dan Brown, Jeff Kinney and Ruskin Bond.

Through the Penguin Annual Lecture, Penguin Random House India aims to spread the thrill of fresh ideas to a new generation of readers, thinkers and future achievers.

It is interesting to note that Hollywood calls Priyanka Chopra their Most Bankable Badass! The April cover of Marie Claire International paid tribute to the rebels, risktakers and power players and their unwavering renegade style.

And who better than our very own Priyanka Chopra to represent that as she persistently proves that there is truly nothing she can't do!

Referring to her as "Hollywood's Most Bankable Badass”, Marie Claire features global icon Priyanka Chopra on the cover dressed in a fiery,fierce red ensemble.

From presenting at the Oscars and the Emmy's, to being named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine , the country's highest paid actress with her talent, passion and drive truly exemplified what it meant to be a go-getter.

The two-time People's Choice award winner, has featured on 17 international covers including Emmy, Elle, Time, Instyle, Flare, Flaunt and Women's Weekly among others and was also part of Variety Magazine's IMPACT list, that featured LA's most influential and impactful women of 2016.

It was only last year that Dwayne Johnson aka “The Rock” welcomed Priyanka Chopra to the Baywatch family, calling her “insanely talented”, “relentlessly smoking” and “extremely dangerous”.

After Ventilator and Kaay Re Rascala, Priyanka Chopra, who savours venturing and excelling in varied arenas, had also publicly announced her third Marathi production, Firebrand, directed by Arunaraje Patil, over Twitter.

With a vision to tell stories from remote parts of the country and to dive into regional cinema, the gorgeous actress’s home banner, Purple Pebble Pictures backed a comedy drama, Ventilator which went on to receive three National Awards.

With a humungous response to its first regional production, the banner got the right encouragement to explore yet another story and announced its new film too.

From the Oscars, the Emmys, the Billboards and the recent MET Gala,to being splashed across hoardings in America and being on the biggest talk shows in the West, Hollywood just can’t seem to get enough of Priyanka Chopra !

The international superstar who made her big Hollywood debut alongside Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron in Baywatch , was the most talked about star in the reviews that came the film’s way .

On the home front, the buzz about the desi girl at heart is that besides a few endorsement deals, she will announce her next Bollywood film. Latest reports hint that 'Bajirao Mastani' director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is keen on Priyanka being a part of Sahir Ludhianvi's biopic.

Says Priyanka, who had also produced a Bhojpuri film ‘Bam Bam Bol Raha Hai Kashi’ and a Punjabi drama titled ‘Ek Onkar’, besides a film in Assamese, "I am going to do another three films in different languages.

My focus is on small-budget movies. It's a great time for filmmaking and there's interesting stuff coming my way.People pursue happiness, success, money or fame, for me, it's the pursuit of excellence.

I want to be excellent at my role in my Marathi film too, even if it is a guest appearance. If you're consistent, you will never be denied success, no matter the age or stage".