Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 15, 2017)

While every B-townie worth their salt is in New York, Priyanka Chopra returned to Mumbai on Thursday after wrapping up her second Hollywood film, A Kid Like Jake, and parts of a third project, Isn't It Romantic?, in the Big Apple, where she’s been residing for a better part of the last few years since her Hollywood breakthrough.

Back home, she’s been putting together a last-minute press conference for her second Marathi production, Kay Re Rascala. Meanwhile, her latest trip to Mumbai has sparked rumours that she returned home since she didn’t want to rub shoulders with her desi counterparts in NYC. PeeCee rubbishes the rumours. “It’s my birthday! I wanted to spend time with family and friends and be at home for the weekend,” she exclaims, adding that she is off to an undisclosed international destination on Sunday to ring in her 35th birthday on July 18.

In Silas Howard’s A Kid Like Jake, that also features Jim Parsons and Claire Danes, PeeCee plays single mom Amal. Last week, she was spotted canning a shot in Central Park with Adam Devine for Todd Strauss’s Isn’t It Romantic?, which features Rebel Wilson and Liam Hemsworth.

“But I don’t want people to watch these movies thinking they are ‘Priyanka Chopra films’ because they aren’t,” she asserts, explaining, “I had two months before work on Quantico season 3 began and I decided to do two films. I was excited because these are interesting parts in amazing films and as an artiste it is an opportunity to learn new things,” she beams, adding that in 2018 she has “another bunch of films lined up”.

She is quick to point out that it takes hard work to make a mark in Hollywood. “To go to another country and work without a sense of entitlement is not easy. There have been difficulties but as an actor I have worked hard to be able to be identified by my accomplishments. It’s not about the US or India. I’m never going to be satisfied with one country, I want to take over the world,” she laughs.

On June 29, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued a record 774 invitations to new members, which included 14 Indians. Priyanka was also on the list, and admits that she has already voiced her opinion on the changes she’d like to see for the awards to diversify further. “I am grateful for being invited but I think one foreign language category is not enough. A country like India, where Bollywood and regional cinema produces the highest number of films, deserves more representation. Indian films need to be eligible to be nominated in other categories as well,” she says.

She has a six-film slate of regional movies ready under her banner and wants to continue experimenting. She is resurrecting a channel to go hand-in-hand with her film productions, and is developing content in Hindi and English under the watchful eye of her mother and co-producer, Madhu Chopra.

Buzz is, she is co-producing a new TV series too, commissioned by ABC, the American TV network that facilitated the Quantico breakthrough for her. The comedy show will reportedly follow an Indian superstar who settles abroad. It is said to be drawing extensively from the life of actress Madhuri Dixit.

“I’ve spent the last one year developing stories. I want to tell a range of fun stories. There are many things I’m involved with right now and it is too soon to discuss them,” she says evasively, adding that if she could clone herself she would be doing a lot more as a producer. Is she also co-producing Gustakhiyaan, the Sahir Ludhianvi biopic, with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, which will also feature her as the leading lady? “There is speculation about a lot of things I am doing since I am in talks with several people and developing multiple things simultaneously. I will be shooting Quantico for the next four months so there’s still time. I don’t pressurise myself. I do what I want to do and the way I want to do it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” Priyanka signs off.