Priyanka Chopra, who recently spoke about the issue “many Harvey Weinstein’s” everywhere, has been going about with her own rules from her the very beginning journey in the world of the film industry. Priyanka was crowned Miss World in 2000, the year where she celebrated her 18th birthday, and then two years after that she made her acting debut with a Tamil film called Thamizhan. The following year, she did her Bollywood debut with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. Currently, Priyanka has over 40 films displayed on her resume and a popular American TV show, a Hollywood movie to go with but she could have added another 10 more movies to the list, which she missed out on after rejecting a project by a reputed director, said mother Madhu Chopra to Deccan Chronicle.
Talking about Priyanka Chopra’s tackling the harassment from her initial days in the industry of Bollywood, Ms Chopra told Deccan Chronicle: “…a designer told her that the director’s brief was to dress her in itsy-bitsy clothes. The director said, ‘What is the point of having a Miss World in front of the camera if we cannot show her as her beautiful self?’ Priyanka had refused to do that film.
Madhu Chopra added Priyanka had to pay the price for the rejection but she “didn’t care”: “It was being helmed by a reputed director and he got upset. Priyanka lost 10 films because she rejected that project.” Madhu Chopra was speaking at the 20th International Children’s Film Festival – she’s a jury member, reported Deccan Chronicle.
In yet another incident in which Priyanka stood by her values even as a fresher in the industry, Madhu Chopra said: “She was just 17 when she entered the industry, so I accompanied her every minute of the day till about three years ago. So a gentleman then says to her: ‘Can you ask your mother to sit outside while I narrate the story to you?’ Priyanka then told him, ‘If it is a story that my mother can’t hear then it is a story that I cannot do’.” Madhu Chopra is also part of Priyanka’s production house Purple Pebble Pictures and is her manager.
Priyanka Chopra, now 35, also addressed the issue at the 2017 Maire Claire Power Trip event recently. In the wake of the many allegations against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein for sexual harassment, Priyanka had said: “There is not just ‘a Harvey Weinstein’ in Hollywood, there are many. It happens everywhere.”
