Quantico star Priyanka Chopra Jonas talked about her moving to America despite a soaring career in Bollywood. The 40-year-old actress also admits that, in terms of stardom, Tom Cruise and other A-list Hollywood celebrities pale in comparison to Bollywood artists.
Chopra Jonas rose to fame when she won Miss World 2000, cementing her career in Bollywood as one of the top stars for the next decade. Despite her successful enterprise and numerous endorsements, she left India and moved to Los Angeles in 2015.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas Talks About Leaving Bollywood For A Risky Career In America
Speaking with Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast, Priyanka Chopra Jonas opened up about why she decided to ditch her Bollywood career and risk her transition to America:
“I was being pushed into a corner in the industry. I had people not casting me for reasons. I had a beef with people. Again, I’m not good at playing that game. I was tired of the politics, and I said I needed a break.”
Chopra Jonas revealed that she experienced unequal treatment in show business. She received lesser pay as compared with her male co-stars. She continued:
“Movies are sold on the guy and the girl now. Change was demanded by the new generation coming in and saying, ‘Great, make a Bollywood blockbuster, but with me too.’”
Despite her criticism of Bollywood politics, Chopra Jonas held the industry in high regard. She said that the glory and success of famous top Indian stars are unparalleled, in contrast with the fame in American entertainment.
“I don’t think you guys have seen that stardom. I don’t think Tom Cruise has seen that. I’m not that, but we have actors with that allegiance and love.”
Aside from being a beauty queen and actress, Chopra Jonas also dabbled in pop music. This singing career opened a lot of doors for her in Hollywood, and that’s when she segued back to working on films.
“This music thing gave me an opportunity to go into another part of the world, not crave for the movies I didn’t want to get.”
Her deal with Interscope Records allowed her to collaborate with music icons such as Pitbull, will.i.am, Pharrell, Matthew Koma, Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, and Beyoncé. After she signed with CAA as the first-ever Indian artist under the agency, she landed a role in ABC Studios’ Quantico as the lead star.
On Dealing With Public Hate And Being A Brown Actress In Hollywood
Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ transition to Hollywood was, of course, mired with controversies. The actress revealed that she had “beef with people” and even earned the reputation of being a polarizing figure. In her interview with GQ India, she responds to the claim that the public is calling her “the most hated woman in Bollywood”:
“I believe I’m interesting, and that’s why I get spoken about. I think the gossip around me is a result of the fact that I’m a very private person. I just won’t discuss my personal life in the media.”
Despite all the flack she receives pertaining to her moving to Hollywood, Priyanka Chopra Jonas remains proud of her ethnicity. She claims “very few brown people are in the entertainment business” and that her goal is to “create more opportunity for people like us.”
Source: Armchair Expert, GQ India
