When Priyanka Chopra first began shooting for her role as FBI agent Alex Parrish who’s suspected of being a terrorist in US television network ABC’s new show Quantico, she had to change gears from her leading-heroine-in-Bollywood avatar. One of the biggest challenges was mastering another accent. “I had to do several retakes because my American accent wasn’t coming through,” she confesses.

That wasn’t the only linguistic problem she faced. At the same time, back in India, the never-say-die actor was wrestling with a different language issue. She was playing Kashibai in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani and had to sound like a true-blue Maharashtrian. So she simultaneously took up Marathi dialect training for her part in the movie.

But Priyanka relishes the challenges. “I’m an actor and I’m a good one. I can become any character I want,” she asserts confidently.

To be sure, it’s been a gamble to try and carve a space for herself as an actor in the West, but it seems to be already paying off. Her face is splashed across billboards and on subways and buses across North America. And she’s getting strong ratings.

Still, Priyanka has no intention of relinquishing her Bollywood superstar status and she’s literally living out of a suitcase as she balances Quantico and travelling to and fro between India and North America. To make it easier she has taken a five-bedroom apartment in Montreal with her mother and her team.
 

The past two months have been hectic for her as she had to juggle so many commitments at the same time. But with Quantico on air finally on Star World in India she says: “I’m going through a lot of emotions right now from being happy to proud to nervous.”

Her pace isn’t about to slow down in the near future. She’ll be spending the next four months  shooting for Quantico. She says: “We’ve shot six out of 13 episodes so far. Its complete madness and I need four cups of coffee before I can actually function. My body and mind hurts as there’s still a lot to do. But I’m not complaining.” If that’s not enough, she’ll be back in Mumbai this month to shoot a crucial scene for Bajirao Mastani.

She describes her FBI agent character as a “female Jason Bourne” who becomes a prime suspect in a major terrorist attack. She’s been tweeting and posting on Instagram regularly about the hectic behind-the-scenes activity during the shooting. She even took to the New York subway system one day to reach the shoot on time — the city had one of its famous traffic snarls because of Pope Francis’ visit.

The hard work doesn’t deter her. “That’s what champions are made of. I’m inspired by real stars like Mary Kom who told me that when your body and mind is giving up, you have to brave it through. So today it’s my choice to live this way and I don’t want to make excuses for it or take it for granted. I am willing to put in my hard work.”

Her American dream came true when she was signed on by angel investor Anjula Acharia Bath in 2010 who has been working relentlessly to get her deals in the US. The fact that there weren’t any South Asian role models in mainstream pop-culture in the US attracted Priyanka. She says: “Subconsciously, it became important for me as a professional and as an Indian that I wanted to be chosen on merit and do a non-stereotypical character.”

Bath believes Priyanka is a star who can make a breakthrough in the American entertainment industry. She says: “I have always wanted to change the perception of South Asians around the world. When I met Priyanka, I knew she was my opportunity to do that. She’s highly creative and driven by challenge, and likes to break the mould.”

The clinching moment came after a meeting with ABC’s casting executive, vice-president Keli Lee, who flew to Mumbai to meet Priyanka. Lee sent her 26 pilot scripts out of which she chose Quantico.

As an actor Priyanka, who charges around Rs 9 crore per film, likes to stretch herself and be always ready for something new. She’s no stranger to action films having done Don and more recently Mary Kom. “I like sinking my teeth into stuff that probably I feel I wouldn’t be able to do,” she says.

Director Omang Kumar, who directed her in the Mary Kom biopic, adds she put in 15-16 hours a day to shoot combat scenes. Kumar wanted her in the lead not just because she suited the role perfectly but also because “she’s beautiful, talented and can carry a film on her shoulders”.

But Quantico is tough going even for a Bollywood veteran used to punishing schedules. She says: “I had to do nine scenes at the same time — past, future and present — many times on the same day.” And her accent required work. “Some people think I already have a fake American accent. Trust me, I don’t,” says Priyanka, taking a shot at critics.

Her new roles highlight her capacity for variety. During her 13-year career, she has played Jhilmil, an autistic girl in Barfi!, a cabaret dancer in Gunday and more recently Punjabi girl Ayesha in comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do. She says she goes mostly by instinct when picking scripts, “Whenever I choose a script, I make it a point to be absolutely sure about it.”
 

Bajirao Mastani is set for a December release. That’ll be followed by Prakash Jha’s Jai Gangaajal in which she plays a tough cop. She says: “I love to come back to Hindi films — especially for doing the song-and-dance numbers.”

Priyanka has also set up a production company in Mumbai called Purple Pebble Pictures. The first film that’s set to roll out under her banner will be Madameji.

If all this isn’t enough, she says she’s pushing ahead with a US music career. Her first single In My City in collaboration with American rapper will.i.am was released in 2012 and she released her second single, Exotic, in 2013. She also sang Dil Dhadakne Do along with Farhan Akhtar. Early this month she released an electronic mixed with pop number on iTunes and You Tube called I Can’t Make You Love Me.

Where does she find the time to do so many things? “I’m a multi-tasker,” Priyanka laughs.

As a child, Priyanka had a very middle-class Indian upbringing with one twist. Her parents Ashok and Madhu Chopra were both army doctors and that meant constant postings and moves. When she was 13, she shifted to the US and lived with an aunt. She says: “As a teenager at high-school in the US I faced racial barbs and was bullied for being brown. At that time no one ever looked like us except Apu from The Simpsons on television.”
 

Unable to face the racism in the America, she returned to India and finished her schooling in Bareilly. Three years later, she took part in the Miss India contest and eventually became Miss World in 2000. Her film debut, in Abbas-Mastan’s Humraz, happened two years later.

She doesn’t like to look back too often. But she still remembers her first shoot. “It was seven in the evening and we hadn’t started shooting. I cried profusely as I wanted to run away from the set. But by the time the shooting was over I had fallen in love with the idea of film-making,” she recollects.

Working in America is, of course, very different and Priyanka admits that she sometimes feels that she is starting her career from scratch. 

She confesses: “America has been extremely encouraging and welcoming to me this time. I am a lot more assured about where I come from and a lot more grounded.”

But how does she want to be remembered? She says firmly: “I don’t want to be remembered as a star or an actress. I want to be remembered for my work, as an achiever and I want to have a film legacy.”