Leaving a Global Footprint
HER FILM AND INVESTMENT CHOICES SHOW THAT PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS KNOWS WHEN TO SWIPE RIGHT
Priyanka Chopra Jonas knows the fine art of living out of a suitcase. She’s in Cannes one day, in Ethiopia the next. She returns to the US, and in the blink of an eye, she’s back in India. She isn’t complaining, though, at least not until she looks for that pair of red boots. “I hate not knowing where my stuff is,” she says.
This time, it’s entrepreneurship that has brought Priyanka to Mumbai. Recently, the actor invested in Bumble, a social networking app that she is also the brand ambassador of. An app that one can use to make professional contacts, friends and also date, Bumble prides itself on allowing women to make the first move. With a million users in India, and available in both Hinglish and Hindi, Bumble says its zero tolerance of “harassment, hate speech and misogyny” makes women feel secure online. Features like ‘hide your profile’ and ‘block-reportunmatch’ further protect female users against untoward advances.
Funding and promoting Bumble is Priyanka’s way of bringing about social transformation among women. Six months since its arrival, over a third of Bumble’s users in India are women,
and 60 per cent of them are said to be using the app for more than just dating. “I’m really a girl’s girl,” claims Priyanka. “I believe that if we do not look out for each other, no one else will.”
When asked if the notion of romance has changed with dating apps, she laughs. “I liked having options. Not anymore, of course. But there was a time when Laila and Majnu didn’t even see each other. Today, we say, ‘I need my own space.’ Change is the most constant thing.”
These days, Priyanka only needs to mention a project for it to make headlines. Mindy Kaling’s film on Indian weddings will bring Priyanka and Hollywood to India, and she is also working on a Ma Anand Sheela biopic, being developed by Rain Man (1988) director Barry Levinson. The reality dance show she’s producing with Nick Jonas, her singer-actor husband, takes its inspiration from their own wedding sangeet. At the same time, she’s also producing a horror film with Blumhouse, a production company known for hits like Us (2019), Split (2016) and Paranormal Activity (2007).
While news of her trans-continental career makes Priyanka a source of constant intrigue, her presence on social media makes her ubiquitous. Her popularity, however, has a downside. It places her high on the troll hitlist. Her recent appearance at the MET Gala, for instance, generated a slew of memes. Trinamool supporters were particularly irked by one that replaced her face with that of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s. “I have a sense of humour,” says Priyanka. “I don’t get affected by some random person sitting at a computer. I developed a thick hide very many years ago, well before social media. I’m, in fact, a fan of the internet.”
Priyanka says she has inherited much of her independent spirit from her mother, Madhu, one of her closest friends and now a business partner. When it comes to working with women, she says, “There’s a scepticism with which women’s abilities are greeted— we have to prove ourselves [more than men] to have a shot at the same thing. Till that changes, we’ll have to plough the ground to create opportunities for each other.”
Though Priyanka is already a global icon, she says she still has India on her mind. “My work in India is the foundation of everything I am.” And in October, The Sky is Pink, her first Hindi film in three years, will be released: “I see it as a poignant piece of art. It’s beautiful, entertaining, funny, and at the same time, deep. I think it’s a compelling story that will travel.”
In between her globetrotting, Priyanka is also writing her memoir, Unfinished. “I must have jinxed my book by calling it Unfinished, because it’s just staying unfinished,” she laughs. “I have pushed my deadline three times.” The actor describes writing as “cathartic”. “I have never been so open about myself and my feelings,” she says. Though she ends by admitting, “I’m scared,” we can perhaps take heart. Fear has clearly never been too much of a roadblock for Priyanka.