Full transcript: Priyanka Chopra on London Real
3:42 This is London Real. I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Priyanka Chopra, the Indian actress, singer, film producer, philanthropist, and winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant. Time magazine named you as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and you currently star in the hit TV series Quantico. You’re in London promoting your new film, Baywatch the Movie, co-starring Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, and Zac Efron.
4:04 Priyanka, welcome to London Real. Wow. Yeah, I guess that’s me. That’s you. That was my introduction.
4:11 Wow, that’s a lot of things I’ve managed to achieve. Yeah, I want to hear about some of those. When you’re flying in and about to land in Heathrow and you’re looking out and you see the London skyline, maybe you can see Hyde Park or something, what are some of the memories that kind of flood back to you about London? Well, so for me, I mean, I’ve been to London now a million times in my career, but everything for me started with London. I was crowned Miss World in London.
4:37 It happened, the Millennium Dome was launched that year. I was a failure at first. Yeah, yeah, and it started with, like, our pageant happened at the Millennium Dome, and I remember that it was the Millennium Year, so the excitement, and you know the whole conversations around Y2K and all that was happening. So whenever I come into London and I see the London Eye when I’m landing, I always start feeling like an 18-year-old again, because when I had come here as a contestant, as Miss India from Miss World, you know, everything was so new, and I was this 17, 18-year-old with 93 gorgeous, stunning, tall women from around the world, and you know, we were being chaperoned and I was meeting world dignitaries and world leaders, and I had to have an opinion on, like, the economy of countries, and you know, life just suddenly changed.
5:31 I think I grew up in like a year, so London is a constant reminder for me of that, of like growing up in such a short span of time. And your mom put you in the contest without even asking you or asking you that? I think it was a joke. I honestly think it was a joke, because… Is she funny that way?
5:49 Yeah, she’s funny. She’s always pulling tricks. But this… I was taking photographs at this… You know, like, how you do mall shots and you take those soft focus, hand on your face kind of pictures, and this is like 99.
6:04 I was hoping to take pictures because I was applying for a scholarship program. I wanted to be an engineer. And the photographer said, oh, you’re really pretty. Can I take some more pictures? And to a 16-year-old’s ego, I was like, yeah, sure, of course.
6:17 And those pictures, my mom obviously thought were great, and there used to be ads for Miss India in, you know, a daily monthly magazine. And she saw those ads, and she just decided to send them in. She didn’t tell me, she didn’t tell Dad, and we got a call back. I happened to be home. Those were landline days.
6:36 I happened to be home and picked it up, and they said, we’re calling from Miss India, you’ve been selected, you have to come to New Delhi, blah, blah, blah. And I didn’t know where that came from until my mom broke the news. I was going for the Miss India pageant. And what did your dad think of that? Well, he wasn’t happy.
6:52 He was pretty strict. Well, he was, I think, I went to America. My dad wasn’t strict. I went to America when I was 12 years old, and I came back when I was 16. So when you’re 12, and when you come back when you’re 16, my dad didn’t know what to do with a teenager.
7:08 Suddenly, I was not a baby anymore, so he was freaking out anyway. And then on top of that, my mom puts in this whole thing that I’m going to be in a beauty pageant. So he was freaked out for a little while. But my mom belled the cat, like they say. She spoke to him.
7:25 We had an honest conversation, and my dad just said, if you want to do that, I just want to make sure that your mom’s with you when you’re there because you’re so young. And my mom is a practicing doctor, and she gave up her practice to be with me for three years, at least. The point was, if your career works out, your mom has to be with you. And she did. She gave up her practice for three, four years till I was on my own feet.
7:49 She used to always be with me and make sure everything was OK in the big, bad world of show business. And then she let me fly. How do you have the confidence to try to be first Miss India and then go to Miss World? I mean, confidence doesn’t seem to be ever a problem for you. But where do you think that comes from?
8:07 You know, I don’t think people would believe it, but I think it’s self-taught. I don’t think confidence is something that you are born with. I don’t think confidence is. It’s a skill set. And I had no confidence growing up.
8:21 As a child, I was extreme. I had very low self-esteem. I was gawky as a teenager. I lived in America. I was made to feel conscious about the fact that I was Indian.
8:32 That was weird at that time. And not by everyone, but just by, like, a few bullies in school that hated me. And high school’s hard for everyone. So I was in a very weird sort of teenage place. And when Miss India happened, I’m inherently competitive.
8:50 I think the fact that I was competitive pushed me to teach myself to be confident. Initially, I faked it till I made it. I was just like, I’m not going to let anyone see that I’m scared. I’m not going to let anyone see that I’m affected. And over time, I realized, like, as a woman, as a girl in this world, if I allow myself to be hurt, or if I allow myself to be affected, that’s all I’m going to be.
9:18 And I’m not, you know, trying to say that it’s an issue that just women have. It’s not easy to be a woman in show business, and especially a woman who’s opinionated, especially someone who I’m not… I’m sort of like… And I wasn’t like that from the beginning. I sort of learned.
9:32 So confidence is something I’ve taught myself over the years. I started becoming okay with who I am. I became the best version of me. And then I sort of said, I’m okay, you know, I’m all right. Even if someone else thinks this, I’m okay.
9:46 And everyone can do that. People just don’t realize it. Is it confidence you think that won Miss World? Because at that level, it’s not about the looks anymore, is it? Oh, absolutely.
9:58 I was told that, that I won it because of confidence. Because I asked later, there were so many more beautiful women than me. But of course, I was curious. So I was like, what was it? And they were like, just you, when you speak, you’re just eloquent and confident.
10:12 And I was 18, and I realized how important it was. I mean, I was Miss World at 18, just because I was confident. So it made me understand that confidence truly is the key to getting ahead in life. If you believe in yourself, the world will believe in you. Because perception is reality.
10:30 Talk to me about those four years. You’re in Iowa. It’s 25 years ago. I’m guessing it’s you. Let’s not count the numbers.
10:37 OK, all right. All right. You and a lot of lovely Midwestern white people. Yeah. And what’s that like?
10:43 And is that probably why you ended up going back to America? Did that plant seeds? Did it put Americana inside of you? No. I’m from America.
10:51 No. They want the big, bad villain. No. I’ve had a… When I was, in fact, when I came from India to Iowa, it was one of the best experiences I had in America.
11:00 I was in ninth grade or eighth grade. And none of our neighbors were Indian. Everyone was like, I think, yeah, mostly Midwestern and white. And I remember my aunt would come out who I was living with. We’d come back from work in the evening, and we were babysat by our neighbors, me and my cousins.
11:17 And she was amazing. The family was great. She used to take her kids and us to the pool, and we’d spend the afternoon there, have hot dogs for lunch, and then come back in the evening to hang out with my aunt. I didn’t even understand race and the differences of that when I first came into America. I got a lot more aware of it.
11:38 In fact, when I went to school, like in school, like kids, you know, teenagers, like when your peers start making you aware of it. And that happened to me not in Iowa, actually surprisingly, as people would think, but in Boston. I was in high school in Boston, and I think she just hated me. I don’t know why, she just didn’t like me. And she started picking on me, and I guess to hurt me, the only thing she could hurt me with, which I couldn’t change, was the color of my skin, right?
12:09 So I think that’s why she started being hateful and calling me brownie and curry and all of those things. Now in retrospect, and that’s why I went back to India, and I was just like, I don’t want to go to high school here anymore. And I went back to India, I never held it against a country. I held it against a girl who bullied me, and that’s how I think we need to address the world. You can’t generalize like that.
12:36 We are going through our problems as a world right now, because that’s what we do, because we put people in boxes, because we stereotype, because we say, everyone who’s like this will be like that. But not in my experience. My bully was, she was African American. She was not white. You know what I mean?
12:56 So it’s like nothing is a straight line, and we need to stop looking at the world like that a little bit. I think Steve Jobs said in one of the graduation speeches of Stanford that when you look back at your life, you can connect the dots. Yeah, completely. And if it wasn’t for that girl, you might not have gone back to India, and you probably needed to be in this India before you were in this world. Absolutely.
13:16 Maybe. Yeah, I believe in destiny. Besides Beyonce, I’m destiny’s favorite child. Why do you believe in destiny? Because I feel like destiny and hard work go hand in hand.
13:26 There are some things that are inexplicable that happen. I wanted to be an engineer. At least my life. I can’t speak for everyone else. And I’m an actor.
13:35 That was never, no one in my entire family had ever been in show business. It was the most bizarre thing to comprehend because I come from an extremely academically inclined family. My parents are doctors. My entire family was like double PhDs, MDs, like way to set your children up for failure, but that’s who they were. And I feel like I was put into, in retrospect, I was put into places and things happened in my life that made me ready for things in the future.
14:05 So in retrospect, I really do believe in destiny. I feel like I was picked out of, I was sent back to India, like you said, because this career was ahead of me. I was always creative in school, but I didn’t know what to do with it. I used to write, I did plays, I would do school, but my aspiration was never to be creative. And now that I found this vocation, I’m producing, I write columns, my creativity comes out in whatever way it can.
14:32 And I think somehow something guides you. What that is, I don’t know. I don’t have a name for it. I don’t think it’s a religion. I don’t know if it’s God.
14:40 I don’t know what it is. But I think something is bigger than us. And I believe in that. But you don’t wait for it because you’re constantly working. You can’t wait for destiny.
14:49 That’s being entitled. No one can be that. You can’t be like, oh, destiny is going to knock on my door one day. No, it won’t. You have to be able to recognize opportunities because there’ll be a lot of them that come into your life.
15:02 And once you recognize an opportunity, you have to seize the day and work bloody hard because there’ll be 25 other people who want to do it. Talk to me about your work ethic because you once said, I’m in a state of permanent exhaustion. I mean, a lot of people will win this world and, you know, take a break when you go back to try to conquer the movie industry in India. Well, talk me through you and your work ethic and what happened for those next five years.
15:26 Well, when I became Miss India, I sort of was on strange ground myself because I was literally I was in college. I was studying and now I’m suddenly Miss World and I have these I was traveling all over the world, you know, being an ambassador and suddenly movie offers started coming to me from India because I think producers thought that it would be it would make business sense to, you know, have Miss World in a movie. And I guess it did because in my first or second films, like I won a lot of awards.
15:58 I didn’t think I could act. I just went in there with the idea of, okay, I can learn a new skill set. I may not know what acting is about, but I can learn. So that’s how I taught myself. I’ve never been to film school.
16:11 I taught my career has been my film school. I’ve fallen down and dusted myself off. I’ve been okay to fail. I don’t like failure. I’ll never let the same failure happen to me again because I learn from it.
16:24 I like knowledge. I like learning from the people around me and I don’t think anyone reaches a point, no matter how successful you are in life, where you can’t learn something new. And I think that sort of got me to where I am and that’s been a big part of my work ethic. You’re in one of the greatest acting towns in the world, London, especially for the stage. What have you learned about acting?
16:48 I mean, I don’t know much about it, but what is the essence of being a great actor? Well, I’m so excited, actually. The fact that you mentioned this friend of mine, Russell Tovey, is also doing a big play here and I wanted to see him, but a bay watching. But it’s so great. He was on Quantico with me, and we had so many conversations about theater.
17:11 I think it’s the biggest test as an actor, first of all, when you do theater, and probably that’s why I’ve never attempted it. Yet. Yeah, yet. I did it in school, but I think acting, for me, again, I’m not a method actor. I’m not someone who will, like, if it’s hot, sit in a sauna or if I have to pan to run for three miles, I’m not that person.
17:32 Whenever I read a character, and because I’m self-taught, maybe this is the wrong method, but whenever I read a character, I create a life around them. I get to know them like my sibling or my best friend. I understand, like, she won’t do this or she would do this, or maybe if she was put in this position, this is how she would react. I know them so well that you can throw any scene at me and I’ll know what the periphery of my character will be. I love it when directors sort of, you know, throw googlies.
18:06 Oh my God, I can say googly, I’m in England. People will actually understand me. It’s a cricket. Oh, you’re American. Oh, yeah, I’m American.
18:13 There you go. I’ve been here a long time, but okay. All right, then, Mr. American. You’re not good enough.
18:18 So, curveball. Curveball. They can throw a curveball at you. They can direct. Yeah.
18:23 They can throw a curveball at you and it makes you better as an actor because you’re like, okay, that can happen. And that’s what acting is. It’s 100% prep before you come onto set and then between action and cut, you can’t remember anything if prepped. It’s just pure instinct. Right.
18:41 And that’s when I think magic happens. Right. And you need to be present. In that moment. In that moment and be that person and don’t overthink it.
18:49 No, not at all. Because you’ve done the thinking. Right. The overthinking and I’m very OCD about life in general. I need organization and I constantly live in chaos but I’m always seeking organization.
19:01 So, I do all my prep beforehand. So, when I come onto set, I don’t think about it. I don’t have my notes. I don’t have my scripts are usually that fat. I don’t keep anything with me.
19:11 I walk on and I be on set and I enjoy the environment and I try and become the character and I let myself lose the trappings of everything that I had thought, oh my God, my dress is like tight or my hair is too hair sprayed or what my lipstick looks like. Between action and cut is like meditation. It’s spirituality. Something, it’s so beautifully creative. I feel like we’re so lucky as actors to be able to do what we do because there’s something spiritual about it.
19:42 At least for me. Do you have idols that you look up to either on stage or screen? I, you know, because I never grew up wanting to be an actor. That was not my ambition. I’m like a kid in a China, like a kid in a toy shop, not a China shop too sometimes, but a kid in a toy shop.
20:01 Like I meet new people and I learn from them. Everything I am today is an amalgamation of everyone I’ve worked with. I meet actors and I watch and I’m like, oh, that’s cool about that person. I want to try that. And I meet someone else and I’ll be like, okay, so I’ve imbibed from different people.
20:19 So I can’t say I had like one idol, a door-metal street. I’m an absolute fan just like the whole world, because of her ability to reinvent herself and being fearless when it comes to her parts and not caring about the fact that there’s a camera and there are 500 lights and 300 people watching you. But it doesn’t matter. Cade Blanchett, another one that I just, I really admire, just because of that ability. Okay.
20:44 All right. Success in Bollywood. Yes. Can I call it that? I hate it.
20:49 Okay, I know you hate that. I know you hate that term. Because we’re not, first of all, Hollywood is a place. Bollywood’s not a place. It’s a term.
20:57 Right. Which we’ve been given for some reason. Second, it makes Indian films sound like they’re a me too of Hollywood, which they’re not. They’re their own identity. They have their own kind of films.
21:06 They make their own kind of movies, just like America does. We all have our stereotypes everywhere we go in the world, but it reduces us to a Zumba class or like a flavor. I saw Bollywood flavored popcorn once and I was like, how do you have a flavor like Bollywood? What does that mean? So that, it’s not like I don’t like the term.
21:29 I hate the connotation that comes with it. Okay. And it shows a misunderstanding. Yes, it’s a misunderstanding that we’re just people who break out into random song and dance without any context. You will see like if we win a World Cup, Indians will dance.
21:44 We have babies, we will dance. There’s a dance party at the drop of a hat. Indian weddings last five days. There’s a culture. That’s who we are.
21:52 We’re 25 people that come out of one car. We eat together. We make merry together. That’s just our nature. So when the singing and dancing happens, your screenplay still goes forward.
22:03 People don’t realize that. That there’s a story being told through song. So it’s not like I’m so glad La La Land did well and as well as it did because now people will understand that all movies are not like that. It’s not a musical just because you break out into randomly. It’s telling a story through cultural.
22:21 And that’s the connotation that people don’t understand. It gets reduced. We also make incredible movies that have art and are supported by music, which it always will be because that’s who we are. And at the same time when I work in America, I mean the stereotypes of American movies are that everything’s a superhero and there are cars blowing up everywhere. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have the moonlights of the world or you don’t have joys of the world.
22:44 So I think that that’s what I try to fight when it comes to the word Bollywood. Okay, I won’t use that word ever again. Why come to Hollywood? Was that always in the cards for you to come to the States whether in television or now in a big movie? Actually, no.
23:00 It never was an ambition. My ambition always was as an artist to be able to grow. English and Hindi both are my first languages. I speak them with as much or as bad as I speak either or. So when the opportunities came my way, I had a talent deal with ABC where they find you a show that works for you.
23:23 I met the VP of casting at a party while I was doing music in America. I love music, so I was doing music just because I love it. And I met her at a party when I was in LA and she just said, you know, you’d be such a great… I hate the word crossover too, but… You’d be such a… you fit in into mainstream.
23:40 I didn’t understand what she meant at that point. And she explained to me. She’s like, you know, you have a uniqueness that makes you Indian, but at the same time you’re not alien enough that people don’t understand you. I don’t know what she was talking about. I just love the idea of being able to explore different content and to be able to work with different people.
24:03 And I’m still working in Indian films. I’ll work in Indian films in America, hopefully maybe in the UK. I would love that. Please listen to that. You’re producing some as well.
24:12 Yes, I’m producing movies. As a creative person, I just want to go where my work takes me. The world is too small now to divide ourselves. Borders don’t exist when it comes to art and entertainment because of the internet anymore. What’s LA like?
24:27 Oh, I love LA. I love LA because… I just like me some Californication, let’s just say. The weather is great. I love the fact that there’s a chill about LA.
24:42 People are not always in a rush. I’ve lived in Mumbai and New York, which are cities which are constantly on the go. I don’t live in LA very much, I just visit. So whenever I go, it’s like going for a chill fest. I’m going to a spa.
24:57 Talk to me about Quantico. Yes. It’s doing really well coming up for the next, the third season. That was your first thing? Yes, the first thing I wrote.
25:06 Outside of music, I mean acting. What was that experience like? What did you learn? There’s a real edge to that show, right? It’s very current and kind of the feeling of what’s happening currently in this world.
25:18 It plays on the anxieties and we don’t understand the future. And I don’t live in America anymore, but I know that’s on people’s minds. What’s it like being a part of that and being that character, which they kind of rewrote the back story of that character. Just a little bit, just tweaked it a little. It wasn’t really rewritten.
25:33 So when Quantico came to me, and I loved it. Like I said, I had a talent deal. So I read about 26 scripts that ABC was making the pilots of that year. I had three favorites. One didn’t even get picked up.
25:46 One didn’t get made. And the other one was Quantico. When I auditioned for it for the first time, it wasn’t written for an Indian girl. And I didn’t know what that meant in mainstream America because this is a mainstream part. So I remember asking them that because it was very important to me to not be stereotyped.
26:05 I had told ABC when we had our first conversation that if you’re going to come to me with my big fat Indian wedding, I don’t want to do that. I’m an actor and I’m so much more than my ethnicity and I want to be taken seriously for that. The fact that my character, I’m Indian. I’m Indian because I just am. We don’t have to hit the nail on the head with it.
26:26 And kudos to them, they found me Quantico. And I’m glad I got the job because it was written for an American girl. And I told a showrunner that I said he wanted to change. I remember we had a conversation about should we change the name? Should it not be Alex?
26:40 Should it be an Indian name? My assistant is Indian and her name is Jennifer. There are no rules in the world anymore. And I like breaking rules. I find that fascinating.
26:51 I think rules are boring. And it’s fun when you can be a little rebellious when it comes to at least creativity and entertainment. So I was really glad. What was incorporated to explain me, I guess, when you’re in the FBI, you have to be American-born. So to explain that, we explain the fact that my dad was American and my mom was Indian.
27:17 But it’s not an important part of the story. Alex is a badass FBI agent, now CIA, who has saved America twice. And I, as an actor, got the ability to do that. And with Quantico, the show that’s gone to about 68 countries around the world in our first season to get that kind of reception, it was really cool because I was nervous. I was nervous that how would America and global entertainment react to an Indian girl playing the American hero?
27:48 But it doesn’t matter as long as you’re convincing as a part. And the success of Quantico showed that to me. And I hope that it opens up the doors for a lot more actors from around the world to be a part of global entertainment. Does it come back to confidence again? Do you walk on that set confident?
28:04 Well, to be honest, I was very scared when I was going for my audition. I was so stupid. It was such a rom-com. It sounds fake when I say it, but it happened. So I went to the bathroom right before I was supposed to go in for my audition.
28:16 I never auditioned because I was Miss World, right? Like we talked about when I started doing movies. So you got the job. So I got the job because I was Miss World. And then I was good in my film, so I got better jobs.
28:26 I mean, you can’t consistently milk the Miss World thing. You kind of had to deliver as well. So after that, people had seen my work. I had a body of work. But in America, people hadn’t seen that.
28:38 I haven’t done anything in the English language. So when I went into audition, I was so stressed because I was thinking that I had to work on an American accent. I had an addiction coach. I worked with her. I wanted to be all-American because that’s what my part demanded, which doesn’t mean I need to change myself as a person.
28:59 And that was the fun of it. So I had done all my prep, and I walked into the bathroom, and I was stressing out, and I was like, oh, my God, I have to go in. It took me three days to say counter-terrorism task force in an American accent. Three days because I couldn’t say terrorism, which is four syllables in one. Terrorism.
29:18 Terrorism. Counter-terrorism task force. Very good. Took me a second. But I talked to myself in the mirror.
29:25 I said, you’ve done so many movies. What is wrong with you? All you have to do is pick your lines out like you do. You know your character. So I taught myself confidence before I walked into the room.
29:36 Back to the old days. You’re now a TV star. Now you put it on the line and go for a big Hollywood movie. This seems like a pattern in your life. You know, you could have waited. Why do that now?
29:49 Because eventually, I’m a features girl. I mean, I’ve never done TV. Quantico is my first experience with television. Baywatch is my 51st movie. So I’m more comfortable when it comes to features.
30:01 Television is a beast. I do not know how you do it. But I don’t know how people, especially when you’re on network TV and you do a 22-episode one-hour drama, it’s about 9, 10 months of your life with, you know, 12-hour, 15-hour days every single day. And on the weekends, you’re doing promotion. So features is where my heart lies.
30:24 I love TV for the characters that I get to play. Honestly, if you think about it, television is a lot ahead in terms of diversity, in terms of female parts than movies. But I still, of course, wanted to still continue doing movies. That’s why I decided to do it together. Okay, talking about diversity.
30:46 Yes. I know you have your own production company. Yes. Television is this long-form storytelling process now. Yes.
30:53 We haven’t ever seen this, really, in the history of media. Yes, it’s amazing. I just had Robert McGee on, who’s kind of the guru of screenwriting. Right. And so he’s in his 70s, and he’s very grumpy.
31:02 But he was over here, and he talked about how he never saw this coming. But all of a sudden, like, I’m sure people fall in love with you over three seasons of Quantico. Yeah. And now they know you. Yeah.
31:14 Talk to me about diversity. Where are we? Where do we need to go? Do we need female producers like you to get us there? It’s unfortunate if we need female producers to get us there.
31:25 If we need females to champion females, I think feminism needs men. And feminism needs men who have the courage to stand by the women in their lives, and the women in society. And not too many men have that. But it’s amazing when you see men who actually do that, who walk the talk, you know, who are producers, like my producers on Baywatch, for example. My character was written for a woman, for a man.
31:48 A man, yeah. And the producers thought that it would be so cool to have a woman take on the rock and Zach, and for the villain to be a female character. And it was so important to my director that that’s what happens and to give Victoria a backstory, which, so she’s not just an evil bitch. Can I say that? Sorry.
32:12 So she’s not just an evil person. She has a reason. She’s a woman playing ball in the man’s world, and she’s a businesswoman. And she, you know, was passed over for her family business because her brother was a boy, even though she had business acumen. So we gave her a backstory, which was rewritten and incorporated in once I came on board the movie.
32:32 And that’s what you need. You need filmmakers like that. And these are all men, including Dwayne Johnson, who was extremely excited about turning this character female, extremely excited about making all the female lifeguards as well in this movie extremely empowered, badass, instead of just objectification. So you need producers and filmmakers that think like that, that are progressive. And I hope that is not just women.
32:56 Yes, we definitely need to see more women come out, produce and direct. It’s very difficult. It’s not easy to be, I mean, I’m talking about it, a lot of the girls who work in the entertainment business probably don’t speak about it as much because they don’t want to sound like, you know, it’s not the sympathy that you want, that, oh my God, as a girl, you don’t get the jobs. It’s hard, we’re willing to work for it, and we’ll demand it. But it’s important to say, even as a female actor, sometimes, like if you just think about business, all right, think about how much money box office-wise films that are led by boys do, compared to films that are led by females.
33:38 And I’m talking about the biggest actors in the world, if you count them, I’m not considering me at all. It’s just, that just shows you where society is. And that’s why, because it’s consumption. Where there is a demand, there will be a supply. That means that many more people go out and watch that.
33:55 It’s a mindset that needs to change, and it’s a global thing. So I feel like the more conversations that happen, people see examples like me playing the villain in Baywatch, or Wonder Woman, or so many female stronger characters that are coming out right now, the more people will understand that that’s also entertainment and has nothing to do with gender. And I guess when it comes to diversity, it’s the same thing. The best person for the job should get the job.
34:21 And the parts should have nothing to do with ethnicity in the first place. Ethnically ambiguous, I think, is the way to go when it comes to diversity. Look at Baywatch as a TV show in the 80s, and look at Baywatch the movie. And it wasn’t thought of. It wasn’t like people were like, all right, let’s get someone of this ethnicity and then someone of that and mix it up.
34:43 It was just the best people for the job that came together, and it looks like what the world looks like today. And that’s the kind of representation we need on television and movies. There’s a line in the movie where you say, Bond villain. Did you write that line? Was that coming up next?
34:58 It was definitely, it came from my brain. I’m a big fan of the franchise. I love the Bond franchise. And I mean, I would love in my lifetime to see a female Bond. Yeah, that’s what I thought.
35:10 I want to be one. What if you were James Bond? Absolutely. And I would be James, not Jane. I love men’s name for women, but I don’t know if that’ll happen.
35:19 But it’ll be really cool to see, you know, such iconic characters become genderless. It’ll be fun to be able to see that. And I do hope it happens. I think the world craves empowered women roles. Like, look at Ripley from Aliens.
35:36 Look at Terminator. Like, we love those women that are owning it. Maybe when it’s written and really congruent and the actress just owns it. But yeah, there’s not enough of it. But it’s too few.
35:47 And it happens once in a blue moon where you’re like, Oh my God, this was a breakout part for this girl, but it should be norm. You know, that should be the normal. How do you become one of Time’s 100 most influential people? Does it have something to do with your work for UNICEF? Or is it a bunch of things?
36:04 I don’t think so. I don’t think philanthropy makes you influential. Philanthropy, that comes from your heart. And yes, I know there’s people out there for who philanthropy is a part of their image. For me, it’s been a part of my life.
36:22 My parents always were very socially conscientious and very aware of what’s happening in the world and giving back. As doctors, I remember since I was a baby, we always had like two hospital beds which were always free of cost. Anyone could come anytime. There’d be no questions asked and there would be treatment. I remember like, you know, my dad and mom, we used to, during my summer vacations, we used to take the ambulance out into villages of India and just, you know, take free treatment just for people who can’t come into hospitals.
36:51 So my parents were always aware of it, you know. So when I became this world and I saw the position and the power that I have being a public person, I became extremely socially aware. And I said that this is something that has been given to me on a platter, which is this position that I have. The fact that people might not adhere to what I say, but they will at least hear me. It might stay somewhere, what I’m saying.
37:19 There might be an opinion. There might be a debate. It might spark off a conversation and that in itself is my job done. Because as a public person, I bring light or attention to something that might not have it. And that’s what I do for UNICEF.
37:34 I’ve been their ambassador now for 15 years, 10 years as their national ambassador for India and now about one and a half years or so as their global ambassador. And I think influence is a state of mind. I don’t think it’s something you do. I don’t think it’s your actions. I think it’s who you are and being comfortable with who you are that influences other people to say, oh, okay, maybe I could do that.
38:01 Or, oh, all right. I can think like that. It’s not that hard. I think that’s what influence is. I wouldn’t like to put the burden of philanthropy on it.
38:11 Philanthropy is between you and God, I guess. It comes back to confidence. I’m gonna name this episode confidence. You know, I was watching you on the movie last night and I just kind of noticed, you know, between you and The Rock, you kind of have similar stories of learning the craft. You know, I remember, I actually remember him in London like eight or 10 years ago, I saw him at a gym and his Hollywood acting career was just starting and no one knew if it would ever go anywhere.
38:37 And when I see him act, I feel like, man, that guy really worked on this. And that was the two things I was seeing about the two of you, you know. You know, we’ve talked about that. Like when I first met Dwayne and we had the same agency so we talked a couple of times and he’s been so wonderfully encouraging of me and he always said that to me. He said, you know, you and I have the same DNA.
38:59 We have the same DNA. We don’t forget where we come from and he doesn’t. I see that about him like now I know him for a while and he’s a dear friend and someone I completely admire and I understand why he’s one of the biggest movie stars in the world because he doesn’t forget where he came from. I remember we were at an event and so we were at an event and there was someone who was, you know, who was a part of like there was no questions that this person was being able to ask because, you know, there were so many other people who were getting the attention and I remember Dwayne noticed that and pointed out to this person and told him, what’s your question?
39:39 Why don’t you ask it? And this girl was like really nervous but she got the opportunity and I remember after we finished, I told him, I said, you know, that’s what makes you who you are. He was like Priyanka, I remember being in that place. I remember when no one wanted to ask me a thing and I get that. I remember when, and I still am, like sometimes there’s so many fights that I do but I remember when nobody wanted to, you know, wanted my opinion or I remember when I had to work on, when I was just the side chick to the guy and I had to work and do small but important, significant parts to prove that I can and I will and then triumph.
40:21 So we’ve always sort of connected on that level, you know, weird way. Of course, he’s the ginormous movie star but as human beings, I would say. You mentioned movie star. What makes a great movie star? And what’s going to make you a great movie star because there’s so many, it’s more than just the acting.
40:39 It’s more than just showing up on set. It’s much more than that, right? I think so. I think everyone can, like there are a lot of people that can be actors and, but not that I, I mean, I’ve enjoyed enormous, if I may say so, notoriety because of being an Indian movie star and I’ve seen incredible love and affection from around the world. It’s a big reason for me being able to be a risk taker because I have so much support.
41:07 But I’ve worked and met some really wonderful, huge, ginormous movie stars and I think the one thing that makes, that’s common between everyone, who eventually becomes great or legendary or has a legacy is humility. Is, you know, like how they say the, the bigger the tree, the heavier, the more fruits it has, the lower it’s sort of, it’s a saying in my country, that the more lead in your tree is with fruits, the more it bends. So humility is something that I think is a common factor amongst the greats.
41:41 And do you find that when you bump into famous people in LA, whether it’s The Rock or Bono, are these people that, they’re the nicest people? More than nice, they’re just, they’re, they don’t come with the trappings of being a movie star. Even though, you know, you might have, like, I mean, I have nine people in my entourage myself. Even though you have like, you know, 25 people that are always with you and everything is like taken care of because you have to focus on something else.
42:10 But you still remember that. You still remember to say thank you. You still remember to appreciate the people who work with you. You still remember to appreciate the people who buy tickets to watch your movies and truly do it. Not because you’re supposed to.
42:24 Not in a pretentious sort of condescending way, but truly. And that’s, I’ve seen it around the world with the greatest of greats, that that’s something that is extremely common. And I think that’s why they become great, because people recognize that. Tell me about your success. Do you have a daily practice or anything that you’ve noticed when I do this?
42:42 Everything works much better for me. When I skip it, it doesn’t. And I know you bring the shrine with you. Is there kind of that moment of meditation? Well, I haven’t been able to do that for a while.
42:51 It’s been two months. I haven’t prayed in the morning, but it goes with me everywhere. I mean, praying is a very important part of the Hindu ritual, to go to a temple, to start the day off, just in a positive way. And I’m not religious tremendously, but I have been raised with a religion, and I have faith in it. I have faith in something bigger than myself.
43:16 So I like to have a tradition that holds, like reminds me of my roots, which is my food. My cook is my greatest commodity. I will not carry bags, but I’ll make sure that she gets a visa, because I love homemade food at night. And at the same time, my shrine is called a mandir, and that’s Hindi for temple. And whenever I have the luxury of having a routine, I like to start my day off with prayers.
43:44 I haven’t been able to do it as much, because I’m in a different time zone every two days. But I think the one thing when my day goes off really well is having a little bit of me time, which I don’t usually get because I work so much, and that’s my choice. I love my job, and it’s a champagne problem to have to say that, oh my God, I have no days off. You know, that’s the kind of problem you want when you’re a career person, I guess. But when I have even one or two hours of quiet me time, whether I watch TV or I just read, I feel like the next day is much better.
44:24 Your only tattoo is on your arm. It’s daddy’s little girl. I just wonder, when you have a big moment like a premiere of this movie, do you think about your father, and for anybody that’s kind of going through a grievance, is there a way where you can kind of turn that grief into power for yourself? Yeah, it comes with acceptance. I lost my dad four years ago to a battle of cancer which lasted eight years.
44:47 I was very close to my father. He was my superhero, my idol. I wanted to grow up and be him. He was a musician. He used to perform on stage.
44:57 He was a surgeon. He was an artist. And like he was a life of a party, gregarious laughter, extremely confident man. You know, and I used to just look at him like with awe every time, and then to see that and that persona deteriorate because of a disease broke me too. And so when he died, I went back to work four days later because that’s the only thing I know how to do whenever I’m dealing with things, and I tried to push it away.
45:29 I dealt with my grief in many, many ways. Then I reached a point where I just said, it’s not going away. You accept it and make it your friend. Not your friend, but your companion. Your grief when you lose something like that or someone like that, and I tell that to everyone because we all lose people who we love.
45:48 You have to keep them in a part of your heart as your constant, and then you don’t grieve for them anymore. Then you remember the good things. Like, I remember my dad’s laughter. Every time I’ve won an award, you know those annoying parents who are like, really like, that’s my child? That was my dad.
46:04 And I just be like, dad, stop it. This is my 55th award. Stop it. But he used to be my greatest champion, and he used to take so much pride in me. My mom does it too.
46:14 My mom’s more like my friend. But I miss those things. So when I have a big premiere or I win a big award or I’m honored with something, there’s always a moment where it chokes me, and then I think that I think it’s my dad that’s making everything happen. He went up there and he was like, yo, shakes things around and says, she’s going to do this and she’s going to do that, and you know, he’s taking care of me from up there. So I try and think of the good things, and I made grief my friend.
46:47 Okay. Priyanka, I always ask everyone a question at the end. If you could make a phone call to the 20-year-old you so you would have been two years out in this whirlwind and give that young lady a bit of advice, what would you tell her? I was probably shooting for my film, my first movie. Yeah, okay, now I remember.
47:06 I would totally tell her, don’t try so hard. I was such a misfit in the movie business or in the entertainment business that I, I was always trying to please everyone. I was always trying to like, you know, wear the right outfit and wear five kilos of makeup and like big, everything, everything. You don’t need to do that. None of us need to do that.
47:29 Eventually, the only thing that speaks for you is your work. And if you’re good at that, damn the world. And I would totally tell my 20-year-old self that. That’s good advice. Well, congratulations on the movie.
47:43 I love watching it. I love watching the dynamic between you and Rock and when you got Zach drunk and all that good stuff. And it’s a fun take on the movie and I like how you didn’t take yourself too seriously and you joked about all those pieces. It’s a great reboot, one of many, I think, for you in the future. Hopefully.
47:59 And so thanks for getting real with us, you know, and sharing all of this stuff. Thank you. I love getting London Real. Right? On London Real, we say it’s about the journey, so I wish you well on yours.
48:08 Come back and see us in London soon. Thank you. I hope so. Okay. Thank you.
