There is someone in my life: Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra talks on the love of her life in a chat with Swati Chaturvedi of Spicezee.com. Excerpts from the interview ‘Kahiye Janab’.Q: How did you end up in the film industry? Was it difficult?

Priyanka: I don’t understand my own past; it has all been so swift. I was just seventeen years old when Miss World competition happened to me. Then straightaway I had become an actor. It is like a dream. It just happened so it was very difficult. I had to make myself grow up very quickly. Imagine being asked an opinion on the world economic condition and on the new President at the age of seventeen! Who thinks of all these things at seventeen, tell me? I had to take a lot of responsibilities all of a sudden. I miss my childhood. Now I have regressed. Now I am very badly behaved. Q: Your transformation from modeling to acting has been very swift, and you have handled these transformations wonderfully well. Besides, you took up unusual roles for yourself. How did you manage all this? Priyanka: I was never a model, so it was no great transformation for me to become an actor after that. I landed up on the international pageant stage after being directly plucked from school. I always thought of myself as a strong individual, so I took my own decisions. I had no background in acting, so no predetermined mental set-up to hamper me from taking up a new profession. It was just a whim. Q: It is generally accepted that beauty queens cannot act. What do you say to this? Priyanka: I never thought of all these generalizations. I had no time to think of any such thing, that is why I was able to be what I am today, otherwise I would have blundered amid the norms. Q: Akshay Kumar has said: ‘After a hundred films, even a donkey can act.’ What do you have to say on this statement? Priyanka: I am yet to complete a hundred films. When I do, then I’ll discover if I am a donkey or not! I have spent only five years in the film industry. Give me some more time to learn and discover myself. Give me some time to prove myself! Q: You have an image of a size zero actor, which is very popular. Everyone wants to be you. How do you manage this image? Priyanka: I have no interest in the size zero figure! I have no interest even in maintaining it. God has endowed me with a thin frame. And the love of my parents has given me a high metabolism. I love paranthey a lot – I am a foodie! Let people be jealous if they want. I live to eat. I am very easy to please – give me good food, a good place to sleep and some good work – and I will ask for nothing more. I am from a Punjabi household, used to eating ghee lagi roti and ghee wali daal. I am used to this lifestyle only! Q: What does it take on your part to maintain this fabulous figure? Priyanka: I never do anything. I never try to maintain my figure. I work-out only for my films. I did work-out for ‘Dostana’ and for ‘Fashion’, only because I had put on so much weight earlier. Q: Why did Madhur Bhandarkar make you shed eight kilos for ‘Fashion’ when you were already so thin? Priyanka: He never asked me to, poor guy! It was my idea that in the beginning of the film I should look a little ‘filled-up’, then as my career as a model caught on, I should look leaner. So. Throughout the film I lost Seven-eight kilos. For this we even shot the film in a linear fashion – Bhandarkar never complained! Q: Who is your favorite actor? Priyanka: Shah Rukh has always been my favorite actor – and always will be! He is there from one to ten – the rest come afterwards. I have been his fan since my childhood. Nobody compares to him. Q: Is this choice because he is safely and happily married – so a non-candidate for link-up with you? Priyanka: But all of the established actors are married! And it is stupid to connect actors this way – because he or she is single so whoever s/he acts with, is a contender for a link-up story! This is outrageous! After all, we actors are also humans. We are also sisters and daughters to some. Sometimes when I am sitting with my father and we come across this scandalous story about my link-up with an actor, I am very irritated. It is very stupid to link up people like this. It gives rise to a lot of strain. Q: After a story of a supposed link-up with a married actor in the media, do you find it awkward to meet him? Priyanka: I feel very awkward, obviously. It is a very uncomfortable situation to maintain the distance when I am this friendly a person. It is painful to maintain the distance after that. You have to be guarded in the way you talk and react, because you are being judged, and you can easily be misinterpreted. I feel journalists should come up and work as screenwriters and scriptwriters in the film industry. It would give them a better chance to vent their creative abilities. Better than concocting link-ups out of the blue… Q: Why do you call Shahid Kapoor ‘sadu’ Priyanka: That is just in jest. We are on very friendly terms, and he is a great human being. We are friendly, so I call him ‘sadu’ as he gets so serious during work. He is a very lively person when not working. He sings and dances so well, he is a funny guy. I only call him that because of his unusually serious attitude on the sets. Q: Are you single and ready to mingle? Priyanka: I am single, but not ready to mingle. And yes, there is a certain someone in my life, but it is for me to know and for you to find out. I am a very private person. I don’t go on about the stages of my life. I am always politically correct – you can ask me anything, except my personal life. Adaptation: Nabila Habib