She’s back from the States after a shooting schedule of three months, and even if there is still a bit of jetlag, Piggy Chops isn’t showing any of it. The actress was in Delhi to cheer for the Indian Hockey team, all energy and enthusiasm. “I was very excited to at least try and attend one match,” she said.
And any plans for the IPL? “Not yet, I’m just focussing on hockey. I love cricket as well, I hope to catch some of the matches if I can.” Ask her which team she’d be rooting for, and she says hastily, “Oh, I don’t pick, a lot of my friends are on these teams, so I’m not picking any teams, at all!” Does that mean she’ll be cheering for everyone? “I’ll be cheering for the game.” Clever reply, we have to say. “Every time I watch a game, I’ll say ‘hmmm, so which is the team I’d like to pick today?’” So what will help her decide, which team has cuter guys, maybe? “Errr.... umm... well as a single girl I could say yeah.” Hold it, did she say single? “Yeah, definitely, you can hold me up to that,” she laughs, “But no, I always go with the stronger side baba, I like to play it safe! I like to be on the winning side, always.” Would Priyanka perform at any of the matches, or post match ceremonies? “Not yet, but it would be fun I think, to do it,” she says.
She was recently in the news for being contractually forbidden by producer Sajid Nadidwala to tweet about her next with Ranbir Kapoor, Anjaana Anjaani; what does she have to say about that? “Actually, that’s not happened, and I don’t know where that one’s come from. Because if you see any of my tweets, I never speak about my film, only about my experiences. The contract hasn’t happened, I’ve only read about it myself,” says PC.
Speaking of Twitter, and she’s pretty active on it herself, what does she think of the whole ‘living online’ phenomenon? “Well, I think there’s always those phases of everything, you know. And it’s such a fast world at the moment, that people really don’t have time for other people. And this is a way of being in touch. It’s made the world a smaller place for sure; speaking to friends and family abroad, they know what I’m doing in my life. So, in that way, I think it’s a great thing to have happened. But yes, the actual touch and feel of real people, the mystique of not knowing, you miss out on all those things.”
But hasn’t that also reduced the charm of stardom, that quality of being removed from the real world... Earlier, there used to be this aura and mystery surrounding a star, fans would wait for hours outside a shooting location just to get a tiny glimpse, but now they get live updates right from their living rooms... “But I don’t think that has anything to do with Twitter, or Facebook, or being online,” Priyanka chips in, “I think that’s an era which had kind of died off a few years ago. I think it’s because of the fact that stars are a lot more available, like I’m talking to you in an interview right now because I’m in Delhi, or I’ll be doing five commercials – I’m in your bedroom.”
In her next film for Vishal Bhardwaj, Priyanka plays a character who murders seven of her husbands. What’s easier, playing the pretty face, the seductress, the siren, or the murderer? “I just don’t like it easy, I think,” comes her quick reply, “The more it challenges me, the more it excites me. I think I like to mix the bag a little bit. I’ve done Kaminey, Dostana, and I’ll be doing Don, and Vishal’s film; I like jumping from one to the other.”
Having being linked with so many of her co-stars, does she want to settle down, set the rumour mills straight? “You know, it’s not really planned. I can’t just say, ‘Okay, I want to get married tomorrow.’ There’s a technical problem – I’ll need to find a guy!” she chuckles. “Whenever I’ve had a plan, God’s said, ‘Uh oh, I’ve something else planned for you!’ I’m single at the moment, and the link-ups, they’re a part of your job. You have a nice conversation with a guy, and they say, ‘Ooh!’ When it’s a tad here and there, it’s fine. But when it’s stretched for a long time, I get very affected. I find it embarrassing that my dad would pick up the paper in the morning; sometimes I hide the paper and stuff! People forget that I’m also a daughter, or my brother might read it.”
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