Priyanka Chopra on Covid-19 situation in India: I beg you to stay home
Story highlights
Priyanka Chopra asked fans to take COVID-19 seriously as she joined Bollywood actor Kabir Bedi over a video call to launch his upcoming memoir, ‘Stories I Must Tell’
As situation in India worsens over the last few weeks, Priyanka Chopra asked fans to take COVID-19 seriously. Joining Bollywood actor Kabir Bedi over a video call to launch his upcoming memoir, ‘Stories I Must Tell’, Priyanka opened up about her struggle to find work in Hollywood and then took to social media to write about healthcare system of the country.
They started their interaction with how difficult it was to get work in Hollywood. Kabir Bedi said, "In those days Hollywood just wasn't writing roles for Indian, or Asians in general. So how do you get a role if it is not written for you? When they did have a role for an Asian, they had no hesitation in painting a white actor brown. The way I got the roles was telling my agent that forget the Indian bit. Cast me in anything that is foreign-looking to Hollywood.”
"In those days, a Ben Kingsley had to change his name from Krishna Bhanji to Ben Kingsley to be taken seriously and get roles. Today, Priyanka Chopra does not have to change her name for her success in America," he added.
Priyanka Chopra interjected, "But let me tell you. This is a couple of decades later when I decided to go and seek work in America. I didn't have to change my name but I did have to teach people how to say my name. Everybody would be like Priyanka 'Shapra-Shapra'. I said it is not Shapra. If you can say Oprah, you can say Chopra. It's not that difficult."
Priyanka added, "What I had to do as well--so funny that you are saying you had to do at that time-- was I had to be ethnically ambiguous to a certain extent, to be able to get mainstream roles. In Quantico, I played a half-Indian, half-American. All my bigger work when I initially joined Hollywood, I could not step out there with being Indian, because it was too alien for Hollywood. I don't think, for a very long time, they understood casting an Indian person in a mainstream role in a leading part. So even now, it was extremely hard."
On the COVID situation, she wrote, “The COVID-19 situation in India is grave. I’m seeing images and stories coming in from different parts of the country that are so scary…the situation is out of control and our medical fraternity is at a breaking point.”
“Please stay home…I beg you to stay home. Do it for yourself, your family, friends, community and your frontline workers. Every doctor and frontline worker is saying the exact same thing: stay home, ensure everyone you know stays home, if you have to step out wear a mask, talk to those around you and help them understand this situation…we cannot take this lightly. Get the vaccine when it's your turn. Doing this will help us ease the immense pressure on our medical system” she added.