Madhu Chopra on Priyanka losing films after harassment

Madhu Chopra has waded into the controversy currently surrounding the Hollywood film industry, with revelations that daughter Priyanka Chopra also opted out of several films due to harassment in Bollywood.

In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, “She was just 17 when she entered the industry, so I accompanied her every minute of the day till about three years ago. So a gentleman meets her and says: ‘Will your mother sit outside while I narrate the story to you?’ Priyanka told him, ‘If it is a story that my mother can’t hear then it is a story that I cannot do.’ She walked out of that project — a prestigious one.”

She added, “Another time, a designer told her that the director’s brief was to dress her in itsy-bitsy clothes. The director had said, ‘What is the point of having a Miss World in front of the camera if we cannot show her as her beautiful self?’ Priyanka refused to do the film. It was being helmed by a reputed director and he got upset. Priyanka lost 10 films because she walked out of that project. But she didn’t care. That is what I say to everyone. This is not the end of your life. Your life is more valuable.”

It will be interesting to see if there will be any whistle blowers in the Indian film industry that will expose such filmmakers and talent, who are exploiting their position.