Speaking at the Cannes Lions conference on Wednesday, Priyanka Chopra Jonas shared her thoughts on becoming a producer and her desire to expand her career in the United States, pointing to the low-budget horror blockbuster “Obsession” as an example of how the barriers to entry are lowering for talent and filmmakers.
“I think if you have an idea, you can shoot it and put it on YouTube and it could become the movie that just came out, Obsession,” Chopra Jonas said. “What a great time to be an entertainer, to be in the entertainment business, because ideas are currency.”
It wasn’t always like that. Chopra Jonas, a Bollywood superstar who has been building a career in Hollywood for the past 10 years, said she faced some challenges when she entered the film industry as she had no connections. “My parents were doctors, so no one knew how to handle film,” she said.
“When I started, it was a very niche industry. If you wanted to get into filmmaking, you had to figure out what sector you wanted to be in,” she said.
She also recalled being told early in her career that Indian films “would never be as global as Hollywood” because “India is not an English-speaking country and not everyone will understand films made in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, whatever language they are made in.”
She said she founded the production company to support “new filmmakers, or filmmakers who have great ideas but don’t have the ability to open the doors that I could open.”
Chopra Jonas, who has released streaming hits “Citadel” and “Head of State,” also spoke candidly about wanting to take her career in English to the next level.
“During my career in Hindi, I’ve worked with some of the best filmmakers, some of the best actors, told great stories, and appeared in a variety of genres. Whereas in my work in America, Hollywood, and English, I haven’t done as much.”
She said her “next reinvention” is to “think about how I can bring the kind of diversity to my characters in my English work that I was able to do in India.”
She believes streaming services and the pandemic are encouraging viewers to explore content from around the world.
“My mother loves Korean dramas. Without both of these factors, she would never have been able to watch Korean dramas,” Chopra Jonas said. “Or she’ll watch an Iranian movie. Or she’ll watch ‘The Squid Game,’ which became a social phenomenon, or ‘Parasite,’ which won Best Picture.”
These projects show that non-English entertainment can no longer be treated as a niche thing, she said. She mentioned her current project ‘Varanasi’. The project is being shot in Telugu, a classical language spoken in South India, and will be dubbed in around 200 languages.
In a conversation at Cannes Lions, she also opened up about her life since getting married and becoming a mother, admitting that her “life has changed a lot.”
“Priorities really change. I don’t just pack my bags and go to the movies anymore. I don’t do five movies a year. I don’t travel as much as I used to. I’m really, really selective about the time I spend and who I spend it with…I’m living the life of a working mom. I have a lot more respect for my mom now.”
