Priyanka Chopra talks turning producer at HTLS 2020, says ‘my mother said that at ripe old age of 30, I might not have a career’

Actor Priyanka Chopra is among the pioneering female actors who also went into film production. A few years ago, Priyanka started her production house, Purple Pebble Pictures, which has primarily produced regional films. Priyanka talked about her decision to become a film producer and what had inspired it, at the 18th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Thursday.

Priyanka was joined by her singer husband Nick Jonas for their virtual interaction. Even Nick has recently turned producer with Netflix’s holiday movie, Dash and Lily. Talking about her production house, Priyanka said, “When I joined the film industry (and that goes for both, in America and in India), there is always opportunity for the big guns, who have ben established. It takes a really long time for writing, directing, production, acting talent to be able to get throught the doors. My company was all about giving opportunities to smaller, more quaint stories and that’s how the regional cinema thing started,” she said.

“And also my mother told me that when I turn 30, at the ripe old age of 30, I might not have a career very soon. So I was like, ‘You’re right’. We started the company and today in both countries, multiple languages, across multiple mediums,” she said. “My greatest joy with Purple Pebble is being able to create an all South-Asian cast, movies and TV shows in Hollywood. We haven’t seen that very often. It is really my quest to try and influx Hollywood with Indian talent, as much as I can,” she added.

Priyanka also spoke about the future of cinema with the advent of streaming platforms. “In India, we tend to think that streaming services are second best to theatres when it comes to storytelling,” she said. “I disagree with that. There is, of course, a romance and charm to having a theatrical release, but there is an absolute necessity to having streaming services.”

Priyanka has a slate of streaming projects lined up. In January, she will be seen in Ramin Bahrani’s The White Tiger and Robert Rodriguez’s We Can Be Heroes, both on Netflix. She has a lucrative deal with Amazon Prime Video in place, which will allow her to produce content across a variety of genres and languages.