Sunshine girl PC finds nirvana in music, TV in US

There was this young girl who entered a coveted beauty pageant for the pure joy of participation. She wanted to see how the world looked from inside. She had no prior experience in walking the ramp, and least of all, no ‘I want to be a beauty queen when I grow up’ kind of a dream that could have helped her pickup the nuances. She was this gawky teenager, just outliving her college life and thought she could just enter a beauty contest since her friends said she should try her hand at it.

Little did she know, with no godfathers and mentors in the industry, this ‘daddy’s girl’ she could steal the show and take home the most coveted crown for which people work through their entire teenage!

That was then. Priyanka Chopra, born to parents who were serving as doctors in Indian army, surprised everyone including herself, when she won Miss India in 2000. The new millennium changed the grand plans this girl had for her life. Confused between whether to become a criminal psychologist or software engineer—gosh, those are REALLY distant professions – Priyanka Chopra accidentally entered the world of fashion and beauty. She aced it like a pro. Her winning streak had just begun and she went on to claim the Miss World title too in the same year. While she was busy making plans for future, the destiny had something else lined up for her.

After astounding success in the beauty industry, Bollywood seemed to be a natural choice. And, boy! Did she grow into a fine actor! Some of her films have been runway successes and there are those where she silenced her critics who thought they were watching a non-actor perform on the screen. Her performance in Barfi! as Jhilmil Chatterjee was something that only she could pull off.

A biopic made on ace Indian boxer and Olympic medallist Mary Kom was something that took away a lot of her energy. She put up a splendid performance again, leaving no stone unturned to make her role look every bit authentic. The girl had clearly arrived!
But you would be making a mistake if you thought acting, looking good and sculpting herself after the roles are just all that she could be focusing on.

You must hear the melody of her voice and her impeccable sense of music in the albums she cut with international pop artists. In the international circuits, Priyanka Chopra aka PeeCee isn’t just known for her drop-dead looks or her courtship with the camera; she is known better for her music. How else would she make such perfect choices of the musicians she has worked with? Will.i.am and Pitbull featuring some super trendy numbers, directed by names like Joseph Kahn, Emil Nava, Jeff Nicholas and Jonathan Craven.

Seriously, this is clever planning and is a total testimony of how the 33-year-old gorgeous actor has been chalking her career chart. She, for sure is a fast learner.

Her moves are much like that of a chess player. They are planned ahead, meticulous, and are done with subtle performance so as to bring drama into the game.

She is already a familiar name on international circuit and while doing that, she didn’t turn crass like some actors of Indian origin have done. Remember Mallika Sherawat who had become a regular of sorts meeting people in Hollywood and even tried her luck in that non-descript movie which sunk without a trace?

PC probably took each fiasco of a Bollywood actor failing to live it up in Hollywood as a chapter to learn important lessons from. So to say that she wasn’t even a regular at Cannes. She made an appearance in 2012, and that was it. She had her brand managers, publicists and PR managers on a better mission: creating a niche for herself in Hollywood.

The latest success that comes into her kitty is the lead role she has bagged to play in the television series Quantico. The show has been picked up by ABC television network. PC plays an FBI recruit the character which is pretty much prominent and central to the storyline. She is paired with Jake McLaughlin, who is known for gritty shows such as ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘CSI: Miami’ and ‘The Mentalist’. Jake plays a suave guy who meets Alex -- Priyanka’s character and then, Alex unravels his real identity. Josh Safran, Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper are producing the series.

In an interview last year to one of the popular Hollywood magazines, PC talks about how her twitter followers are always supportive of her. She sounded just perfect and at home at Hollywood. Despite some initial criticism about her American twang, the ‘accent’ has also set in, adequately. Now, she will just roll the role, literally and figuratively too. This, truly is the ‘girl rising’ where she plays the narrator.

(Image credits: economictimes.com)