Priyanka Chopra, the self-confessed self-made woman, is the prototype of an outsider making it large in the big bad world of Hindi cinema. After winning the Miss World crown, the Bareilly girl quickly converted her beauty pageant accomplishment into that of a svelte leading lady of Bollywood.
One of the remarkable aspects of her career as a leading actress is that some of her superior works actually came out in characters that were not essentially leads or miss goody two-shoes. Sanja Leela Bhansali’s upcoming Bajirao Mastani is a case in point. It’s quite evident that the period costume drama has Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone in the title role and Priyanka is only the third cog in the narrative wheel. But her idea of taking up the role speaks of a certain conviction, and that’s a wonderful thing to see in a star.
Aitraaz (2004)
Abbas-Mustan’s tale of sexual harassment had Kareena and Akshay playing a couple so righteous that the only redemption came in the form of Priyanka playing Sonia. Her skills as a predatory woman at the workplace fuelled by the husky voice made the atmosphere of sexual entrapment tantalising, and the mundane turned a shade sexier in the resulting rubbles.
Kaminey (2009)
The Vishal Bhardwaj crime caper had two Shahid Kapoors and Priyanka as the Marathi mulgi, was a lover of one. Her Sweety shifted from sweet concern to savage contempt in a flash, and despite being given a short role, she shone bright. Her character, the way it was envisaged, was an easy invitation to overplay, but she somehow restrained herself inside her character’s follies and desires, creating a memorable object of quirk.
Barfi (2012)
As the title suggested, Anurag Basu’s semi-silent film was a tailor-made vehicle for Ranbir Kapoor. Subtly internalising the struggles of her autistic character, Priyanka’s woman-child was stubborn yet inward-looking, and her refusal to sentimentalise made this tale so poignant. Her performance was not without false notes, but it was no stranger to warmth, and it took us little time to like her Jhilmil.
(The writer is a journalist and a screenwriter who believes in the insanity of words, in print or otherwise. His Twitter handle is: @RanjibMazumder)
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