Mumbai to Montreal, Priyanka Chopra says she thrives on 'pressure'

Cross continent travel and insane timelines are a part and parcel of Priyanka Chopras life as a celebrity who juggles her Bollywood assignments in Mumbai with her life in Montreal as the protagonist on an American TV show An actress with the Midas Touch she says the key is to not back down Face it head on build a good support system and just work damn hardPriyanka Chopra PicIANSWith her roots in Bareilly Priyankas first big win came when she clinched the Miss World title in 2000 after beating contenders from 94 nations She was all of 18 back thenAt 33 shes a National Award winner the first South Asian actress to win a Peoples Choice Award and a Padma Shri recipientNobody knows where life will take you or how successful you will become I came into the business knowing nothing I just kept my head down and kept working Priyanka spoke about her career trajectory in a phone and email interview to IANS from Montreal where shes busy working on her American show QuanticoThe actress whos also a singer is also enjoying her role as a producerExcerpts from the interviewQ Is your current life the dream that you ever hoped forA Nobody hopes about these things but yes nobody knows where life will take you or how successful you will become I was so nervous when Quantico got released I never knew it would become popular But here I am happy about the choices that I have made Being chosen for the Padma Shri is extremely specialI came into the business knowing nothing and Ive learnt a whole lot I just kept my head down and kept workingQ Doesnt travelling take a major toll on youA More than anything the actual crosscontinent travel used to take a toll on me but now Ive got accustomed to it Ive found ways to handle it both physically and mentally The key here is that I want to do all of it and thats enough of a reason to push myself Also Ive always thrived on pressure and insane timelines so it makes it a whole lot easier to handle nowQ Youve always been fearless about treading the unbeaten path Producing original content for mobile apps is also a fairly new field what urged you take this leap of faithA Because it offers such a wide canvas There are no rules or formulas to creating content for this space and thatrsquos what makes it so exciting for me Im thankful to Fluence and EndemolShine India for being such a formidable force and coproducers on our maiden digital ventureQ Theres news that youre producing regional films when do we see a fullfledged Bollywood film from your bannerA We have a lot of projects under discussion and you can expect an announcment from us shortly We donrsquot want to rush into anything and are very carefully selecting the projects we want to produce As Irsquove said earlier the vision is to create a platform for great stories to be told and for new talent to be discovered and promotedQ How do you relate to the ethos of Its My City especially since you also came to Mumbai from another cityA There is definitely a parallel that can be drawn to my own story I came to this city not knowing a single person I lived as a paying guest travelled by local trains pursued my ambitions and chased my dreams This story is of four girls who are unrelated to each other yet through the course of the series form a strong bond and friendshipTo correlate to that one of my very best friends today is someone I met as a flatmate in my paying guest digs Those kinds of friendships with all the experiences we had are lifelong bonds createdThis city can be hard on you but it is equally welcoming and full of oportunities When you set out to build your future you will always face challenges everyone does The point is to not back down Face it head on build a good support system and just work damn hardQ In what ways did Mumbai the film industry and its people help you in the journeyA I think it equips you to handle all kinds of pressure It is called the city that never sleeps for a reason I love Mumbai and everything it has given me The industry is my home now and one I am privileged to be a part ofQ Youre almost reliving that experience while in Montreal for your international assignment But the experience may be different considering you are a star nowA It is not the same I have come here in Montreal after creating a certain position for myself so things are way different from when I started out The work environment is similar except for the difference between shooting for TV series and film They have a different schedules pressures and moodsI dont pay much heed to the bells and whistles of being a star itrsquos my creative environemnt that matters and currently itrsquos absolutely amazing