Madhu Chopra recalls she told Priyanka Chopra ‘apne aap ko rupaiya samjho’ when she was in doubt about Miss India

Priyanka Chopra’s recent comment about how she felt cornered in Bollywood has been grabbing eyeballs. The actor, who is in Mumbai to promote her upcoming show Citadel, also opened up in the press conference that she feels ‘confident enough’ to articulate about her journey years later. In a recent interview, Priyanka’s mother Dr Madhu Chopra opened up about the time when the actor had qualified for the Miss India pageant, and was unsure whether she should go ahead with it, leaving her studies. (Also read: Priyanka Chopra reveals why she talked about being concerned in Bollywood years later: ‘Forgave, moved on a long time’)

Priyanka became Miss India 2000 runner-up and Miss World in 2000 as an 18-year-old, and then went on to make her film debut opposite Vijay in the Tamil film Thamizhan (2002). She made her Bollywood debut with The Hero: Love Story Of A Spy a year later, with co-stars Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta. For her performance in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion in 2008, Priyanka won the National Film Award for Best Actress. Later, she became the first Indian actor to lead a US TV series with the thriller Quantico from 2015 to 2018. She then made her Hollywood film debut with the film Baywatch in 2017, where she acted opposite actors Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock and Zac Efron.

In a recent interview with Supriya Paul for Phir Ziddi Hi Sahi, a segment of which was uploaded on Instagram, Dr Madhu Chopra recalled the time when Priyanka was unsure whether to go for Miss India. She said, “Priyanka ko Miss India mein jaana tha, toh ghar mein hamara bawaal ho gaya. Ki yeh padhne mein itni achchi hain, why do you want to take her out off school, distractions kyu daal rhi ho iske mind mein? Toh maine bithaya, Priyanka bhi gabhra gayi ki main select toh ho gayi, toh she also was nervous… she said, “Mom, I don’t think I will be able to do that.” Hum usko bithaye or bole, beta this is an opportunity very few girls get. It’s an opportunity. You want to grab it? Do something about it? Karlo. Warna wapis school to jana hi hai, woh kahi nahi gaya, hum log ghar pe hi hai. Tum school jaogi hi jaogi. But ye opportunity agar pass kar jao, nikal do, toh you never know if it will ever come back again.” (Priyanka wanted to go for Miss India, which ignited a lot of drama in our house. That she is so good in studies, why are you distracting her? Even Priyanka was in doubts, so I sat her down and told her to give it a shot, school is always there to return back to. But this opportunity might not come again.)

Adding that she always told her daughter to have self-confidence above everything else, her mother also added, “Priyanka ko main ek hi phrase bolti thi, tum apne aap ko chavanni manogi, chavanni jaise behave karogi, toh duniya tumhe chavanni jaise treat karegi, apne aap ko rupaiya samjho, bada samjho, rupaiya jaisa behave karo… be proud. Toh duniya tumhe… perception ki baat hai.” (I always said this one line to her that if you consider yourself to be a quarter of a rupee then the world will consider you the same. So become a rupee, behave like a rupee and the world will follow.)