Dwayne Johnson, who couldn’t make it physically to the press conference, was virtually present there.
Mumbai: The press conference of Priyanka Chopra’s Hollywood film ‘Baywatch’ was held amidst enough galore in the city on Wednesday.
Priyanka Chopra, who returned from the US to the city for merely five days, was quite enthralled to interact with the Indian media.
However, the main lead actor Dwayne Johnson, who couldn’t make it physically to the press conference, was virtually present there.
The conference began with his heart-warming message through a video.
He expressed his grief of not making it to India, and said that he is missing India a lot.
Dwayne, popularly known as ‘The Rock’ further joked with the Indian media, to not ask any questions to PeeCee about Zac Efron or other ladies, but only about him.
Taking charge of the press conference solely, Priyanka was asked her opinion about the much-in-debate Akshay Kumar’s National Award win.
To which, the actress didn’t pay any heed to let the journalist even complete her question. Squashing her question, she laughingly said, “I was in America, I do not know anything.”
Priyanka was asked the most expected and obvious question about she missing Bollywood and her upcoming films, to which the actress shared her feelings saying, “I am listening to many scripts, but once I know what my schedule is, then only I can figure out when I can do a film. I can tell you for sure I have locked three films! But I can’t announce them till I know my dates. And I don’t know when I will do it, this year or next year. Actually after June, I really don’t know what I am going to do! And I definitely missed Hindi film industry. I am meeting people here also. So yes, it feels wonderful.”
When questioned about Indians or browns being welcomed warmly and accepted by Hollywood, the ever-so-humble diva replied, “You can’t be so entitled as being from Hindi film industry. We can’t say that if we are stars in India we will be stars everywhere. I am okay to walk into a room and introduce myself as, ‘Hello, I am Priyanka Chopra. I am an Indian actor.’ There’s nothing small about it, our achievements are quite big. Of course, people didn’t know me then. I never thought they were mean except a few. But I think American press was wonderfully accepting of me. In fact, I haven’t seen them being that good to any other Indian actor. They have been loving, friendly and encouraging of me. So, I can’t say about brown skin. I can’t generalise.”
We are all aware about filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s admiration for Priyanka, hence when asked if she would be seen in his next ‘Padmavati’ in any role, she admitted, ” No! just because I am Sanjay sir’s favourite (laughs), I am joking… We have spoken about other films, but not ‘Padmavati’.”
Priyanka’s home production Marathi film ‘Ventilator’ bagged three National Awards, on which the elated diva joked that for some reason whenever she receives an honour from the Government of India, she happens to always be in New York.
Elaborating about her happiness on the win, she further added that she was very happy as this was her first film under her production house Purple Pebble Pictures.
Daddy’s little girl Priyanka said, “I made this film for my dad. The entire sequence happening outside the ICU, while my dad was on ventilator, is the story of ‘Ventilator’.”
She was asked about the difference in freedom of speech there in Hollywood, where the celebrities are in more power to criticise the authority and perhaps, the Indian celebrities here hesitate.
“It’s a cultural difference maybe. I say what I feel. I’ve always had my opinion. When I don’t want to say anything, I just don’t. Maybe controversies get…when public figures say anything there and over here they get into trouble,” she concluded.
