“It was a lonely, scary journey”, says Priyanka Chopra

From winning Miss World 2000 title to becoming an actress, Priyanka Chopra’s successful transition has helped her become one of the most popular celebrities in India. She is also one of the highest paid actress in the Hindi Film Industry. She enjoys her star status but says she missed having a mentor in the industry.  And so as a producer she plans to promote fresh talent in the industry and that the encouragement to venture into production came from her own experience.

Talking to IANS she said “When I came into the film industry, I had no one to hold my finger and show me the way and say, ‘This is the right direction’. I never had a mentor and I never even had friends who knew anything about films.

“So for me, it was a very lonely and scary journey, and somewhere I wanted to make a production house which is a place to introduce new talent – writers, directors, musicians and actors through maybe small, but good films,” she said.

Recently she bagged an opportunity to work with Madhur Bhandarkar for a film called ‘Madamji’ with her maiden production venture. ‘Madamji’ will be directed by Madhur and Priyanka will play the lead role. The shooting of the film will most likely start towards the end of November.

“It so happened that Madhur came up to me with ‘Madamji’. Then I felt that if I do a film with Madhur, with whom I have a great work relationship (thanks to ‘Fashion’), and if I produce it, it will give me a good foothold in film production.

“I’m just a baby producer – nothing compared to the big films (producers) out there. So, it was a spontaneous decision to produce ‘Madamji’,” added Priyanka.

She also said that spontaneity is something that comes naturally to her as she never plans anything in life.Whatever comes her way she gives it her best. She wanted to become an engineer but ended up becoming an actress. ” So, whenever I propose, God disposes”, she added. The multi talented star, who will next be seen in Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ and ‘Bajirao Mastani’ works hard at every opportunity that’s given to her and does whatever she instinctively fee like doing.

Priyanka has played a variety of roles from a negative role in ‘Aitraaz’ to a cop in ‘Don’ to a autistic woman in ‘Barfi’! to a sports personality in ‘Mary Kom’. “I always pick interesting projects! It’s a very conscious decision for me because I don’t like to repeat myself. I get bored doing the same thing. As a person, I like variety and I like things to keep moving.

“As a professional, I love my job. I have spent my entire career learning it. I didn’t go to film school or advisors. So, my career has been my film school. There’s so much to learn and so much to do. There’s just no end to it in this business. And maintaining variety is the key,” she said.