ACTORS TOO FACE CASTING COUCH: PRIYANKA CHOPRA
Not just actresses, but actors too face casting couch, says Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra believes that apart from actresses, actors also face the casting couch. Talking about casting couch in movies, Priyanka said on the upcoming talent-based reality show, “Men also go through casting couch.”
Supporting Priyanka, the show’s host Rithvik Dhanjani said, “It’s the lower level people who want to take advantage of the struggling newcomers. Big directors and producers never do such things.”
Holding one’s own
At a time when women in showbiz are opening up about facing sexual abuse, actress Priyanka Chopra, counted among India’s top-earning film celebrities, says she has faced “abuse of power” in her professional life.
The National Award winner said, “I am very fierce. People are a little bit scared of me. When I walk into a room, I make sure that no one can... Yes, I have had situations when I have been thrown out of films because someone else was recommended... A girlfriend was recommended after I was signed for a movie. So, that’s an abuse of power... Girlfriend of the hero or girlfriend of the director. I couldn’t do anything about it. I was removed last minute from many such situations, because I never catered to the whims and fancies of powerful men. I only cater to my colleagues and friends who give me respect.”
The ‘zero’ effect
Rs 5 crore for a five-minute performance at an awards event? Priyanka says she finds such talk “funny” as the boys, who get “ridiculous” number of zeroes on their cheques, are never asked such questions.
Priyanka is the only female who made it to the Top 10 in Forbes India Celebrity List 2017 with an earning of Rs 68 crore. The actress also spoke about how her dream has always been about achieving the intangible joy of leaving behind a legacy. “It’s not about whether I want a car or want so many zeros on my cheque. For me, it has always been bigger than that... There’s a bigger picture,” she said. So, do those zeroes matter? “Yes. Because I work very hard for them. And I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, though my parents always gave me one. I always worked very hard to be where I am and I think each one of us deserves to be compensated for it.”
A long way to go
Priyanka, who has become an international icon with her stint in Quantico and Baywatch, said that attending this year’s Emmy Awards after-party with handful of South Asian actors such as Aziz Ansari and Riz Ahmed in a room full of 400 people showed her there still is a long way to go. “The fact that you don’t change anything about yourself and still get the world to notice you is when you are a success story and that’s what I did,” she added.