Priyanka Chopra uncovers her life in her memoir Unfinished. (Photo: Priyanka Chopra/Instagram) Global icon and actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ memoir Unfinished has hit the stands. Here’s looking at some of the chapters from the Desi Girl’s life that have been covered in Unfinished.
1. When Priyanka was disgusted by a director’s unprofessional behaviour
Priyanka Chopra shared in her book that during the early days of her career, she was supposed to shoot a sensuous dance number and the director instructed her to take her clothes off in front of the camera one at a time. The actor asked the director if she should be wearing more layers so that she would not be “‘down to skin way too fast”. She mentions in her memoir, “The director suggested I speak to my stylist, so I called him and briefly explained the situation, then passed the phone to the director. Standing right in front of me, the director said: “Jo bhi ho, chaddiyan dikhni chahiyen. Nahi toh log picture kyon dekhne aayenge?” which translates as “whatever happens, panties should be seen. Otherwise, why would people come to watch the movie?” Priyanka quit the project the next day. She further wrote, “I was ready to go full-out as a temptress in the number. The director’s words and tone, though, conveyed that he regarded me in a way that I found unacceptable.”
2. When she learnt humility from Vijay
One of the first films that Priyanka started working on after winning the Miss World title was Vijay-starrer Thamizhan. Priyanka wrote in her book, “Vijay’s humility and his generosity with fans made a lasting impression on me.” She wrote that while filming Quantico in New York City, there was a huge queue of people who wanted to get a photo with her. “As I stood and took pictures with them through my lunch break, I thought about my very first co-actor ever and the example he’d set,” she wrote.
3. The controversial photo with PM Narendra Modi
While promoting Baywatch in Berlin, Priyanka Chopra had a meeting with PM Modi, and the photo of the same emerged online. Unfortunately, Chopra received backlash for her choice of clothes in that photo. Recalling that incident, Chopra wrote that she and PM Modi were staying at the same hotel when she requested his office to have an audience with him. After getting backlash, Priyanka posted a photo with her mother at a dinner where they were both wearing short skirts, and she captioned the photo, “It runs in our family.” Priyanka remarked that she still believes that she had presented herself respectfully.
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4. When PC was asked to get a few surgeries
Priyanka revealed that soon after winning the Miss World title, she was asked by a director to get a few surgeries. She wrote, “After a few minutes of small talk, the director/producer told me to stand up and twirl for him. I did. He stared at me long and hard, assessing me, and then suggested that I get a boob job, fix my jaw, and add a little more cushioning to my butt. If I wanted to be an actress, he said I’d need to have my proportions ‘fixed’, and he knew a great doctor in LA he could send me to. My then-manager voiced his agreement with the assessment.”
5. The insider vs outsider debate
The nepotism debate might have gained steam in the last couple of years, but the culture of insiders getting preference over outsiders has always existed in Bollywood. Priyanka, in her book, recalled, “Over and over again I had to prove to the studios, which were mostly family-owned, that I deserved a seat at their table – which was not easy when I overheard comments at parties like, ‘I got her cast in this movie and I can take it away from her as well.'”
6. When Priyanka endorsed a skin-whitening cream
Without beating around the bush and making excuses, Priyanka Chopra in her memoir apologises for endorsing skin-whitening creams and calls it one of the biggest missteps of her career. Priyanka, like many other Bollywood celebrities, endorsed a whitening cream while at the peak of her career.
7. When Priyanka Chopra hid her boyfriend in her closet
Priyanka also relived her days in America when she went to North Central High School in Indiana and stayed with her aunt Kiran. She fell in love with a boy in the tenth grade and would hold his hands in the school hallway. She liked his romantic gestures, and once he even gave her his gold chain. But one day her aunt caught her in the house with him and complained about it to her mother Madhu Chopra. The actor wrote, “One day Bob and I were sitting on the couch watching television, innocently holding hands, when suddenly, outside the window on the sidewalk below, I saw my aunt making her way up the stairs. I panicked. It was 2 in the afternoon and not her usual time to return. There was no way Bob could go outside the house and he and I ran to my room and I shoved him into my closet.”
She continued, “‘Stay there until I can send her to the grocery store. Kiran masi entered the house and started looking into each room carefully. I was sitting on my bed, with my biology book, pretending I was studying. She came to my doorway and said “Open it” and I asked her “open what.” “Open your closet,” said my aunt. I was shaken as I have never seen my aunt this angry. I opened the closet door, it was a big mess: a boy came out.”
8. When Priyanka Chopra slept with a puddle of vomit in her bed
When she was in her third grade, Priyanka Chopra was finding it hard to adjust in a boarding school. One day, The White Tiger actor puked on her bed, and since she didn’t want anyone to know about it, she slept on the same bed. “I’m not sure if I’d eaten something bad or if my sickness was due to the anxiety and fear that sometimes gripped my stomach. Not wanting to get in trouble for making a fuss, I went to sleep with a puddle of vomit in my bed and didn’t tell a soul,” Priyanka wrote in her memoir. She further shared how she got up in the middle of the night to wash the bedsheets, and next morning, before anyone got up, she put the damp bedsheet back on her mattress.