“Kisiko itna bhi mat darrao ki darr hi khatam ho jaye”. This was the powerful dialogue Priyanka Chopra delivered in her 2014 biopic on MC Mary Kom, released with the same name. In 2014–15, she was in the prime of her acting career in Bollywood, with critics and audiences alike praising her work. In her decade-long acting career, she had countless hits. So, what happened all of a sudden that Bollywood’s leading actress made a foray into the music genre and tried her luck at the international music level?
Well, there is no need for speculation as she has already elaborated on the reasons. In a podcast, she delved into the reasons that compelled her to break free from Bollywood and find new platforms to showcase her acting and singing talent.
Politics in Bollywood threw her off
Bollywood’s famous Desi girl, Priyanka Chopra, recently opened up about her decision to take a break from Bollywood and work in Hollywood. In a podcast, PC claimed that she was being “cornered” in Bollywood.
It was the first time that she revealed the backstory of her decision and shared the dark side of Bollywood, which by now the majority of audiences have come to know from various platforms and countless industry insiders.
In the podcast, Priyanka remarked that some people in the industry were opposing her and were deliberately not casting her in several of the movies.
Priyanka added that she also had some feuds with players in the industry. Reports claim that she was in the bad books of Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. After the release of ‘Mujhse Shadi Karogi’, there were reports that both actors had issues with her.
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Both of them have been, from time to time, accused of sidelining their naysayers and those who get on the wrong foot with them. Similarly, there were credible reports of her feud with Karan Johar in 2012.
Back then, there were reports about Priyanka’s affair with Shah Rukh Khan. SRK and Gauri Khan’s best friend, Karan Johar, started pushing her out of the Bollywood industry. Priyanka’s friend gave some interviews in which they highlighted Karan’s bullying behaviour towards Priyanka.
Her manager saved her career
Thanking her manager, the actress stated that it was her manager, Anjula Acharia, who came to her rescue. Her manager, Anjula, had seen her in a music video. Later, she called her and asked about her willingness to build a career in music in the US.
And when she got an opportunity thanks to her manager, Priyanka grabbed the opportunity with both hands. However, it is now clear that this swift decision was a result of her decision to part ways with Bollywood as she was tired of internal politics that were hampering her acting career.
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PC admits that there was internal sabotage against her
In the podcast, Priyanka Chopra said, “I was being pushed into a corner in the industry. I had people not cast me, I had beef with people, I am not good at playing that game, so I kind of was tired of the politics and I said I needed a break.”
Priyanka Chopra bluntly revealed that the music thing gave her another world; otherwise, she would have to please the Bollywood clubs and cliques that she didn’t like. She had already worked hard and was not willing to grovel to these groups anymore; she preferred to explore new opportunities in a different part of the world.
She added, “This music thing gave me an opportunity to go into another part of the world, not to crave for the movies I didn’t want to get, but to schmooze certain clubs and cliques of people. It would require grovelling, and I had worked a long time by then that I didn’t feel like I wanted to do it.”
Earlier in an interview, Priyanka had talked about this, saying that there were people in the industry who wanted to sabotage her career and did their best to ensure that she didn’t get work in the industry.
In the interview, Priyanka said, “I have had people wanting to jeopardise my career, take away from my work, and make sure I wasn’t cast just because I was doing well in what I was doing.”
Public, media, and fraternity support her claims
After these revelations, which are now an open secret for cinema fans, there was a flurry of tweets and statements in her support. Many lauded her for coming out open on this issue, while others like Kangana Ranaut elaborated on who the possible culprits were whom Priyanka was hinting at in her claims.
.@priyankachopra on why she left Bollywood behind: "I had people not casting me for reasons… I had beef with people. I was tired of the politics. I was just like, ‘I need a break.'" https://t.co/ZtHHFgwGKa
— Variety (@Variety) March 28, 2023
I find Priyanka Chopra extremely powerful. If 'success is the best revenge' was a brand, she would be the Founder-CEO and a 100% stakeholder of it!
— Shruti Chaturvedi 🇮🇳 (@adhicutting) March 28, 2023
This is what @priyankachopra has to say about bollywood, people ganged up on her, bullied her and chased her out of film industry” a self made woman was made to leave India. Everyone knows Karan Johar had banned her (1/2) https://t.co/PwrIm0nni5
— Kangana Ranaut (Modi Ka Parivar) (@KanganaTeam) March 28, 2023
These internal conspiracies by the Bollywood cabal prompted her to move towards music, which later translated into Hollywood movies. Priyanka Chopra broke the shackles and decided to cut loose by appearing in music videos. With songs like ‘In My City’ and ‘Exotic’, she displayed her singing talent; however, she later decided to keep focusing on her acting career. Her decisions paid off, and she played a lead role in the 2015 television series Quantico.
However, it is not that Priyanka herself is immune to controversy or has always been upright on several issues. Going with the trend, she was also a part of a Bollywood group that regularly tried to defame and run down Hinduism by speaking against one ritual or practise after another. Highlighting her asthmatic problem, she spoke against the burning of firecrackers during Hindu festivals, particularly Diwali. However, a few months later, asthmatic patient Priyanka was seen smoking sigar and celebrating functions by burning firecrackers.
Through ABC’s series ‘Quantico, she was accused of spreading the falsehood of ‘Hindu terror’ and whitewashing Pakistan’s sins through insane excuses. Similarly, there was a so-called feminist stir that supported her decision to not choose proper attire for a formal meeting with PM Modi. It was a meeting arranged at her request, yet she walked in a casual for a formal meeting.
These are some of the many controversies in which Pee Cee has been at the centre of the storm. In all those controversies, she was accused of being a hypocrite, being cut off from reality, and acting in an elitist manner. However, her new revelations have yet again highlighted the fact that there are people like Karan Johar and others who have been making a career out of destroying the lives of others and bullying actors and actresses for not toeing their lines. If this happened with Priyanka Chopra when she was well-established in the industry, the amount of rot within the industry seems to have a never-ending pit.
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