‘Priyanka Chopra is best thing to come out of India after yoga’: Anjula Acharia

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However, such offers did not come easily; the actor and her team worked tirelessly for them. Priyanka Chopra’s manager, Anjula Acharia, recently revealed that they worked hard for seven years before she landed Quantico.

‘Priyanka Chopra was not an overnight success’: Anjula Acharia

“With Priyanka, people are like, ‘Oh my god, she was an overnight success.’ She was not! We worked really hard for seven years before she was on Quantico and broke out and was on the cover of Vogue and Vanity Fair. We were hustling for a long time,” Anjula revealed during a conversation with Masoom Minawala.

Pointing out the importance of choosing the right people to work with, Anjula added, “I saw Priyanka on television years before I went to India and convinced her to come back to America with me. But I saw something really special in her. Yet, I’ll be very honest with you, if when I met her, and that hadn’t come through, it wouldn’t have been worth my time. Priyanka is incredibly unique. She is one of a kind, and I say this to her face as well.”

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‘Took meetings with assistants of assistants’: Manager lauds Priyanka’s ego-free attitude

Describing Priyanka Chopra as an egoless star, Anjula Acharia lauded her courage in leaving behind the empire she had built in Bollywood to move to Hollywood and start from scratch. “The lack of ego in that woman… When she was at the top of her game, she came to America with me and took meetings with the assistants of the assistants, and pounded the streets with me. It’s so remarkable and admirable,” she maintained.

“There are a lot of stars in India who won’t be willing to do that work. When they’re at the top of their game, who would want to go to another country and pound the streets? They would want it all laid out for them. But Priyanka was unique. That’s why I say she has no ego. She taught me how to be humble,” Anjula added.

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For Anjula, however, Priyanka’s journey to Hollywood was about more than just building an international career; she also saw it as an opportunity to take India to the world. “When I first came to India, everyone was like, ‘You’re going to steal Priyanka from us.’ But I always said, ‘No, I’m going to take India to the world through her. She’s going to be our biggest ambassador.’ I think, after yoga, she’s the best thing to come out of India.”

From music failure to Quantico success

Anjula Acharia also recalled the early challenges of building Priyanka Chopra’s career in the US, from her failed music venture to the breakthrough that eventually came with Quantico. Anjula said, “I founded a label with Jimmy Iovine, for which I signed Priyanka Chopra 17 years ago. It failed and did not launch Priyanka as a singer. I pivoted to managing her and then managed her career into television. Although she questioned it for a long time, we eventually came to the conclusion that it’s a path worth taking. I was still investing in companies and doing multiple things, juggling. At that point, we’d made no money. Quantico brought our first real paycheck.”