Priyanka Chopra says she has a ‘tumultuous relationship’ with what happened in Bollywood

Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra has forgiven, but perhaps not forgotten. The star, who had opened up about moving to the US because she felt “cornered’ in Bollywood, talked about her comment at a special event of her Prime Video series Citadel in the city and said she spoke her heart out as she felt “articulate” and confident enough.

Priyanka’s comments had sparked a discourse on social media regarding the functioning of the Hindi film industry, its internal politics and gatekeeping attitude. There was a section, however, which also questioned the timing of the interview— right before the release of her ambitious Prime Video outing Citadel, reports The Indian Express.

At a special event of the show, which was also attended by Game of Thrones star Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra was asked why did she choose to speak about her experience in Bollywood now. The actor answered, “When I was on the podcast, I was asked about the journey of my life. So I started with when I was young, when I was 10, 15, 22, 30 and 40-years-old. I was talking about the truth of my journey. I think I am now comfortable enough to talk about that phase in my life.”

The actor said today she is at a better space—especially with regards to her “tumultuous relationship” with how things turned out back then in the film industry. Priyanka said she has now forgiven what happened to her and has also moved on.

“I think now where I am, I am okay enough to articulate what I felt. I think I have had a very tumultuous relationship with what occurred, then I forgave, I moved on long time ago and I made my peace with it. I think that’s why it was easy for me to talk about it in an open manner in a safe space,” she said.

In a recent interview, Priyanka Chopra, without taking any names, had said she faced opposition in the Hindi film industry as people stopped casting her in movies, forcing her to eventually go to the West.

Speaking with Dax Shepherd on his podcast Armchair Expert, Priyanka shared that she was being “cornered” in Bollywood and also had some “beef” with people in the industry. It was at that time that her manager Anjula Acharia came to her rescue. Acharia saw her in a music video and called her to ask if she would be interested in building a career in music in the US.

“I was being pushed into a corner in the industry (Bollywood). I had people not casting me, I had beef with people, I am not good at playing that game so I kind of was tired of the politics and I said I needed a break. This music thing gave me an opportunity to go into another part of the world, not crave for the movies I didn’t want to get but I would require to schmooze certain clubs and cliques of people. It would require groveling and I had worked a long time by then that I didn’t feel like I wanted to do it,” she had said in the interview.