Fact and Fiction

I THINK she8217;s deranged,8217;8217; says Priyanka Chopra, sitting in her trailer van, cocooned from Mumbai8217;s late October sultrine...

I THINK she8217;s deranged,8217;8217; says Priyanka Chopra, sitting in her trailer van, cocooned from Mumbai8217;s late October sultriness. The 23-year-old, attired in traditional wedding finery, is talking about her character Sonia in Abbas-Mustan8217;s Aitraaz.

Sonia is an obsessive personality who8217;ll go to impossible lengths to get her married man. 8216;8216;Which is why it was so challenging to do this performance-oriented role with many negative shades. I8217;m not like that in real life, I8217;m totally chilled out, like water; put me into anything and I take its shape,8217;8217; says Chopra, currently on a Mujhse Shaadi Karoge high.

8216;8216;There are certain rules in society and it8217;s a disaster when one breaks them.8217;8217; Chopra might be just five films old, but she8217;s a pro with all-weather clicheacute;s. For instance, she hated the film industry at first, 8216;8216;but then I slowly fell in love and it8217;s become my life. I don8217;t have a life beyond it8217;8217;.

Chopra the actor is well-documented8212;from the first-time seductress in Andaaz to oomphy heroine in Mujhse...8212;but what about life away from the cameras? 8216;8216;I like to read, especially non-fiction. I loved reading about the lives of Nelson Mandela and Marilyn Monroe.8217;8217;

In some way, says Chopra, who8217;ll star in the sequel to last year8217;s blockbuster Koi Mil Gaya, she connects with true life stories.

8216;8216;Fiction obviously is more difficult, I have myself tried writing stuff,8217;8217; says the actor. Raised in the US, Chopra hated chemistry classes and tried her hand at literature to escape the menace of math.

8216;8216;I started in school. Used to go home, put on a Ghulam Ali ghazal and try to write. Of course, I haven8217;t shown it to anybody. You know, just as you evolve as an actor with every film, it8217;s the same with poetry,8217;8217; says Chopra, who proceeds to describe how an old Nepali lady she met in Manali inspired her to write her latest poem. 8216;8216;I8217;ve left it untitled.8217;8217;

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By now, you think you8217;ve lulled the actor into complacency and ask her about Akshay Kumar. Nope, you don8217;t get her, down comes the clicheacute; curtain.

And what do you think she said? Exactly!

Murali K Menon