Priyanka Chopra : How the Desi girl became a hot Global Superstar

There has been no turning back for Priyanka Chopra ever since she bagged the Miss World Beauty crown in 2000. Blessed with stunning looks and a fabulous figure , it was but natural for her to enter Bollywood. And Buoy, has she not made an impact?. Awesome! to be more precise. For someone who had no filmi connection whatsoever and a godfather and aspiring to study aeronautical engineering or criminal psychology, making it big in Bollywood on her own self belief made was indeed a fairytale journey.

She was introduced in Bollywood in Anil Sharma’s The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003) opposite Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta. It was released in April. Following her introduction in May 2003 she featured in Raj Kanwar and Suneel Darshan’s Andaaz (2003) opposite action king Akshay Kumar and another beauty queen Lara Dutta. In Andaaz one got to see her in hot glamorous avatar and ready to sizzle on- screen. A star had arrived . And the rest as the saying goes is history.

Her Bollywood journey had truly begun on a strong note. String of Box- office hits followed one after the another – Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004)opposite Superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan was a smash hit at the Box office . She won critical acclaim for her bold role in the 2004 thriller Aitraaz. which starred Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor. Her Box- office golden run continued with Waqt : The Race Against Time ( 2005) was another Box office hit. With big Blockbusters under her belt she was cementing her place as the numero uno star in Bollywood..

In 2006, She further enhanced the numero uno tag with starring roles in the top-grossing productions Krrish with lead Hrithik Roshan and later with Shah Rukh Khan in Don . She would team- up with the King Khan later again in the sequel in Don 2 in 2011.

Though she had paired up with superstars – Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan. It was her sizzling chemistry with Superstar and action king Akshay Kumar that made heads turn. The duo were a smash hit pair and created magic on screen. Their 4 Blockbusters prove it – Andaaz, Aitraaz, Waqt: The Race Against Time and Mujhse Shaadi Karogi.

Later following Akshay, who hosted the first season of  Khatron Ke Khiladi in 2008 , second in 2009 and fourth season 2011,  Priyanka stepped into his shoes  and hosted the third season in 2010 of the stunt/dare reality game show, based on the American fear factor.

Her versatility as an actress came to the fore in films like – Dostana ( 2008), Kaminey (2009), 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), Barfi! (2012), Mary Kom (2014), Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) and Bajirao Mastani (2015).

Awards followed too in her kitty as she moved from strength to strength her intense and powerful role of a troubled model in the Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion (2008), won her the Filmfare and National Film Award for Best Actress. A National Film Award for Best Actress for Fashion (2008), five Filmfare Awards: Best Female Debut for Andaaz (2003), Best Performance in a Negative Role for Aitraaz (2004), Best Actress for Fashion (2008), Critics Award for Best Actress for 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), and Best Supporting Actress for Bajirao Mastani (2015).

She has also won two People’s Choice Awards: “Favourite Actress In A New TV Series”, and “Favorite Dramatic TV Actress” for Quantico. She is the first South Asian actress to win a People’s Choice Award. In 2016, she was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, by the Government of India for her contribution to arts. Accolades for her work and successful films at the Box- office made Priyanka Chopra the superstar in Bollywood.

Having established herself as one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, Priyanka Chopra wanted to conquer the west – Hollywood was on her radar right now. And she played her move smartly. She knew that to make in- roads in the west where culture is open and not conservative one needed a image makeover.

The image would be to say no to shyness and be bold and daring. Her foray into singing with In My City came in 2012 , Exotic 2013 with Pitbull ( the music video showed her in hot sexy avatar emerging from the sea in a Bikini) . And her third single a cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” in 2014 gave her the needed push in Hollywood .

And the breakthrough came in 2015, she began starring as Alex Parrish on the ABC thriller series Quantico, becoming the first South Asian to headline an American network series. The series presented Priyanka Chopra on the small screen like never ever seen before. It showcased Priyanka at her boldest and sexiest . For someone who was coy of flaunting body beautiful and doing sex scenes on- screen Priyanka left them shocked with her daring sexy avatar in the Quantico series 1 and 2. Her sizzling sexual intimacy with her co – star Jake McLaughlin and their hot love making scenes has been the talking points all along.

Her bold daring avatar saw her further cement her Hollywood dreams with recently released debut film Baywatch ( 2017) . She is now featuring in two other Hollywood projects – Silas Howard’s A Kid Like Jake, an independent project starring Octavia, Jim Parsons and Claire Danes, and Isn’t It Romantic opposite Rebel Wilson and co-starring Adam Devine and Liam Hemsworth. Priyanka Chopra will complete the shooting for both the projects in June and July before she starts filming the third season of television show Quantico.

While her work front keeps her busy and makes her a global superstar , her good looks and sexy figure has made her hot and wanted off- screen as well. She has featured in several magazine covers in the US at her glamorous best. Her bold photo-shoot for the GQ Magazine US September edition in 2016 raised quite an eyebrow as she dared to pose topless to raise the hotness quotient.

Besides shining bright on the magazine covers, she has walked the red carpet at events like the Oscars, Billboard awards, Golden Globe to name a few. And in all of these one got to see her at her hottest . Priyanka kept the lensmen busy by wearing daring bold sexy outfits which show her sexy figure and ample shots of her cleavage. The lady too seemed to love the spotlight and seemed to be at ease in all these occasions.

Her popularity now is at her peak – In 2006, 2012, 2014 and 2015, the UK magazine Eastern Eye ranked her first on their “World’s Sexiest Asian Women” list. She was featured on Verve’s list of most powerful women in 2009 and 2010.

Named “India’s Best-Dressed Woman of the Year” by People in 2011. Maxim selected her thrice (2011, 2013 and 2016) as “Hottest Girl of the Year”. In 2012, she was declared the most influential Indian on the social-media circuit in a survey conducted by Pinstorm, People featured her as one of the “Most Intriguing People of the Year.

In 2016, Time named her one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” and also featured on the cover of the issue. The same year, she was ranked fourth on AskMen’s Top 99 Women and Forbes named her the World’s eight-highest-paid TV actress In 2017, Buzznet named her World’s second “Most Beautiful Women”, only after Beyonce. Chopra was also named one of People magazine’s Most Beautiful Women in the World in 2017.

Priyanka is also a big name in brand endorsement as well. And is one of the most sought after stars by companies to endorse their products. Priyanka Chopra reportedly opened up about her tomboy-ish days and scarred legs. Speaking on the same in an interview with W magazine, the actress said that she learnt to take care of herself and as a result, her legs now sell almost ‘12 or 15 products’ in India. “When I was a teenager, I was a tomboy. So I had scars, I was always falling on my knees. They were not the prettiest legs in the world, and then I taught myself how to take care of my body. Anybody can do it if I can. And today my legs sell like 12 or 15 products in my part of the world. Yeah they do,” she said.

So as she turns 35, one can truly say Priyanka Chopra has indeed come a long way from being a desi girl to a global superstar. And today the world is at her feet with conquests in both Bollywood and Hollywood. If this is not an impact  then what is?