Priyanka Chopra has become a Bollywood royalty in her own right ever since her notable standout performance in Mujhse Shaadi Karogi back in 2004. But it’s safe to say that she has now achieved global popularity, thanks to her American TV show Quantico. The 33-year-old Indian actress leads the cast in the American television thriller series, playing feisty FBI agent Alex Parrish.
From staging an American accent, filming racy sex scenes with Caucasian men, and kicking butt in action sequences, the beauty has managed to break racial stereotypes arguably present in Hollywood.
I recently caught up with YouTube sensation Lilly Singh, also known as IISuperwomanII, for an interview I conducted for the Daily Mail. The Canadian-based online superstar has also been praised for combating racial barriers in Western media, and I loved the points she raised about Priyanka being promoted like any other television star leading up to the show’s recent premiere.
‘I had a trip to LA recently and Priyanka Chopra is everywhere because she’s doing Quantico. And I remember driving one day and she is literally on every bus shelter, every board on the side of every building and I remember tweeting her “that’s awesome”,’ Lilly explained to me.
‘It’s not even being framed in a way where it’s like “this Bollywood actress in the show”. It’s like “look at this, it’s a normal person in the show, she just happens to be brown”. And so it’s really, really cool and I think that’s awesome.’
Right on Lilly, I absolutely agree with you. And good on ABC Studios for not simply pigeonholing Priyanka into the ‘Bollywood actress’ category. We all know Priyanka is much more than that.