Success is constant evolution, says actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas, a popular Hindi cinema star who is now firmly focused on expanding her filmography in the West.
In her latest Hollywood project "Heads of State", Priyanka plays Noel Bisset, an MI6 agent with a past with the British Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba).
When Sam and the newly elected US President Will Derringer (John Cena) are attacked ahead of a NATO conference, Bisset is tasked with safeguarding them.
The former Miss World, who emerged as one of the top actors in Hindi cinema after her debut with "The Hero: Love Story of a Spy", said she has had a great run in India and is looking for something similar in her work in Hollywood.
"It is constant evolution for sure. I would've never imagined where I am today when in 2002, I started my first movie. But I feel like I'm really nascent in my work in the West so far. I have a major filmography in my Indian work. I've been able to work in various genres, work with the most incredible actors and filmmakers.
"So I want to be able to build on that portfolio in my English language work as well. I feel like there's a lot more to do, a lot more to explore and I'm excited to see what will unfold," Priyanka told PTI in an interview here.
The actor has played central roles in shows and movies such as "Quantico", "Baywatch", "Citadel", "The Matrix Resurrections" and "Love Again".
Priyanka said "Heads of State", which is now streaming on Prime Video, was a fun film to do and she is proud of what she achieved through her character.
"I want to be proud of the work that I take on. I try to take on characters that have agency and are strong and have something to do in the movies versus being ornamental," she added.
Both Priyanka and Cena, who has a massive fan following in India for being a WWE wrestler before turning to acting, started their professional journeys around the same time in the early 2000s but they first met each other in the Ilya Naishuller-directed movie.
"I knew of John from his WWE days in India. He's so well known in the country. It's hard to not know him, especially when he made his transition into movies. I thought that was very interesting and his choice of parts were great. So I was very excited to do this movie with him," she said.
Priyanka said her co-star, who has created a niche for himself with his work in the physical comedy space, is "funny in real life" too.
"And that helps... When you have good comedic timing in real life, you can improvise on set with that kind of ease," she added.
Whether it is hand to hand combat, gun battles or fighting bad guys alongside Elba and Cena, Priyanka gets to do some cool action sequences in "Heads of State".
The actor credited her stunt team and the director for making her look good on the screen.
"Actors are just as good as the teams that surround us, especially in the movies. I think that we had an incredible stunt team and a really visionary director who knew exactly what he wanted. He had a storyboard of almost every shot. He knew exactly how large the explosion needed to be or how high the helicopter needed to be.
"I think over the years, having worked in the genre, whether it's in India or in America, the one common theme is having a great technical stunt team because you are just as confident and you just feel as good as the people around you." "Heads of State" also stars Paddy Considine, Stephen Root, Carla Gugino, Jack Quaid and Sarah Niles. The movie is produced by Peter Safran and John Rickard.
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