“Was Called Black Cat” In Bollywood: Priyanka Chopra’s Huge Statement
Priyanka Chopra Jonas recently opened up about being called “black cat, dusky” in her initial days in Bollywood.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who has made a mark for herself in the entertainment world after delivering several blockbuster movies, never shies away from speaking her mind. The global star recently opened up about being body shamed for her complexion and the patriarchal treatment she received in her initial Bollywood days during an interview with BBC. Priyanka spoke at length about the issue of colourism in the Hindi film industry and revealed that she was called a “black cat.”
Priyanka Chopra said, "I was called 'black cat', 'dusky'. I mean, what does 'dusky' even mean in a country where we are literally all brown?”
"I thought I was not pretty enough, I believed that I would have to work a lot harder, even though I thought I was probably a little bit more talented than my fellow actors who were lighter skinned. But I thought that was right because it was so normalised," she added.
The ’Mary Kom’ actress also spoke about gender pay parity in Bollywood and said, "I would get paid about 10 per cent of the salary of my male co-actor. It (the pay gap) is large, substantially large. And so many women still deal with that. I'm sure I will too if I worked with a male co-actor now in Bollywood.”
Priyanka Chopra further said, “My generation of female actors have definitely asked (for equal pay). We've asked, but we've not got it."
Priyanka Chopra, who has starred in a number of movies including ‘Barfi’, ‘Bajirao Mastani’, ‘Agneepath’, ‘7 Khoon Maaf’, won a National Award for ‘Fashion’.
Priyanka Chopra will next be seen in sci-fi drama series ‘Citadel’, co-starring Richard Madden. She also has a Bollywood project in the pipeline. Priyanka Chopra will be starring alongside Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif in Farhan Akhtar's ‘Jee Le Zaraa’.
