Priyanka Chopra says Citadel has ‘validated’ her efforts in West; credits Deepika, Katrina, Kangana for breaking ‘glass ceiling’

“I feel a sense of validation, because it was a lot of knocking on many, many doors,” Priyanka tells indianexpress.com ahead of her show’s release on April 28. Priyanka says only a handful of Indian stars have had the opportunity to lead a project in Hollywood, something she hopes changes.

“We have seen a few Indian actors play lead roles in the past, Aishwarya Rai, Deepika, we have seen Irrfan. But you can count on your fingers, and these are Indian actors from India. If you talk about Indian Americans there is Mindy, Simone Ashley, Aziz. But there are just a few of us, a smattering. So it feels really great, feels like maine humare logon ke liye kiya hai, ye humne kiya hai (that I have done it for us, that we have done it).”

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Priyanka (@priyankachopra)

But Priyanka Chopra promises to walk the talk when it comes to having Indian talent get the right backing and support in Hollywood, something she didn’t get when she began her journey more than half a decade ago. The actor says she already has plans to have an “influx” of talent get the desired platform. They have the skills, she says, but rarely get the opportunities.

“I really have a goal of wanting to influx English language entertainment with brown faces, in front and behind the camera. We come from one of the most prolific film industries in the world, we make more than a thousand movies a year, we have the technical knowledge, we have the acumen, we know what to do on a film set. Why don’t we have more opportunities?

“Now that I have a little bit of a foothold, as a producer also that’s a big part of my quest, my company does that, I have a first look deal with Amazon Prime, and a lot of what we are producing and a lot of films we are attaching with have Indian filmmakers in front of and behind the camera, writers, directors. That’s really a dream of mine, because it was a big struggle when I started.”

In Citadel, Priyanka Chopra plays an elite spy Nadia Sinh opposite Richard Madden, who stars as Mason Kane. The series features Priyanka do lavishly mounted action– a scale largely reserved for male stars. Priyanka says the simple reason why female stars were never given that mounting is because of “patriarchy”. But few Hindi films actresses, including Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif and Kangana Ranaut have brought in the change.

“It is a thick glass ceiling. But I think my generation of actresses, there are many of them, that have helped knock that ceiling down in Hindi cinema. Actors like Deepika, Katrina, Kangana, who have done incredible action and look amazing while doing it. It took them demanding that, it took a generation of actors before us to fight for it and that happens with every generation.

“Today, you are seeing for example me as a lead on a show and I am doing stunts that you would see a hero do or action mounted where you would have seen a hero do. So watch it, make it easier for the next generation of actresses because now they aren’t scared. Filmmakers will say, ‘Oh, this can happen.’ Possibility is there. When you have a new idea and you are pushing against a system, someone has to do it for the first time. One person does it, then four people do it. Suddenly it is a community,” she adds.