Controversies affect my family: Priyanka Chopra

Mumbai: Priyanka Chopra might come across as a bold person on the big screen, but she admits that controversies do affect her family.

The former Miss World, who has been in the Hindi film industry for a decade, has been caught in several controversies like a cat-fight with actress Kareena Kapoor and an alleged link-up with married actor Akshay Kumar. The family girl says that such controversies hurt. "I am very private as a person and I believe that by giving a statement to controversies I am giving importance to them due to which many more articles will pop up. Usually, they are very trivial things. I get very hurt and affected by controversies. I am a very family girl and controversies affect my family. I would rather just keep quiet," Priyanka said in an interview. "I am very black and white and have always been honest. I believe in honesty, but I don`t believe that the entire world should know about my personal life. I am very private which I think is my right," she added. The 31-year-old has been a part of multilingual films but wants to explore more. "I have done Hollywood, Bollywood and Tollywood - everything in just one month. I am an actor. Make me do any film. I worship my work. I don`t have any priorities nor am I looking for any big crossovers. I like expanding myself and as an artist wherever I can show my creativity in different ways, be it music, acting or anything. I never take my work for granted," she said. Many actresses like to play safe, but Priyanka tries to do what people don`t expect her to. Whether it is playing an autistic girl or learning martial arts, she is game for all difficult tasks. "I think I am a very weird kind of person. Whatever is difficult I feel like doing that only. My mom always says why stress yourself so much and work for 24 hours? I try and do what people don`t expect me to do. It would be easy for me to keep myself in a safe box which is expected as a heroine. I think it`s more fun when you push the limits," she said. She is dedicated and hardworking for sure, but doesn`t take her character home. "During `Aitraaz` I was so new and got very much involved in my character. I have realized over time I tried to be a method actor, but it doesn`t work for me. I am in the character only between the timespan of the action and the cut. After that I get bored. I can`t do it. I do a lot of rehearsal and workshops for a few months," she said. The actress, who is now busy promoting her upcoming film `Zanjeer`, directed by Apoorva Lakhia, said: "I do films for strange reasons. When Apoorva came to narrate this film we discussed about my character; when he left I thought I will really enjoy working with him; so I did the film." She says her character Mala, which was played by actress Jaya Bachchan in the original `Zanjeer` four decades ago, is completely different. "I am playing a Gujarati girl from New York who comes to attend a wedding. She witnesses a murder and how things change in her life is the story," Priyanka said. The film also features Ram Charan and is slated for a September 7 release. IANS