I can't take credit for Don and Krrish: Priyanka

Priyanka Chopra is a self-made girl.

She has always lived life on her own terms and tried things that were different. While she is ambitious and positively competitive, she is not scared of failure and doesn't shy away from experimenting. She has stood tall and worked hard in the most difficult times. Ahead of her upcoming biopic Mary Kom, based on the life of the World Boxing Champion Mary Kom, the confident but shy PC was sporting to answer some difficult questions. Excerpts:

What is your key learning playing Mary Kom?
The one thing that I have learned while doing this film is 'Nothing is impossible.' People say it all the time, but imagine ek chawal ugane wale kisan ki beti to become a three-time world champion. I too come from a small town, from a middle-class family, did not know anything about the film industry, I did my wrong films, did my right films, I am controversy queen, I am a thinking woman, I have an opinion, so I lead my own way and it's hard to do that in this business where everyone is uncle, aunty and friends. Only my work speaks for myself and that is a really solitary thing. I am not doing it like other actresses do. I don't hang out with people. I just go to work and this film taught me that that is enough. No one spoke about Mary Kom till the poster came out. But my work spoke and suddenly after the poster, it became an awaited film. So, it reinforced my belief that if you are good at your job, no one can take that away from you.
READ: Mary Kom: Lessons From The Ring " Priyanka Chopra

Who is your emotional anchor at times when you need it?
My mom. Even though today I have become like her mother, she is much stronger than me and has dealt with my dad's passing away that I still have not. My friends like her company more than mine, which I feel very jealous of. We were shooting Dil Dhadakne Do and every one was like, 'PC, where is your mom? She is so cool.' I have a best friend in my mother. With my father, we always had that father-daughter sharam in the eyes, but he always felt me. But my mother, she is someone I have always been close to and I can talk to her about everything, right from my movies to my relationships.

Bombay Times is the only paper that does not give credit to female stars for the box office performance unless the film is riding on the actress such as a Kahaani, The Dirty Picture or Queen. Is it correct for actresses to take credit for box office performance in male superstar films?
I agree. Why should you credit heroines, who are riding on the back of a hero saying that they are '100-crore heroines? You can't give me credit for Don or Krrish3.

Do you agree that Mary Kom will be a film where your box office power will be evaluated?
I think Fashion was, and despite being an adult film and having Golmaal Returns as competition, it took a good opening. And then, I did 7 Khoon Maaf and What's Your Raashee? that did not do well. And now, I am doing Madamji. Box office is king. I don't understand the business of films and have never looked at numbers, but, yes, I will bear the brunt of this film. But also, I want to create a space, where I make at least one good film a year where you see the trailer and say, 'I want to see this film.'

Despite you doing so many good films, why is it that the No. 1 slot is always oscillating between Katrina Kaif or Deepika Padukone? Does it bother you?
So if a girl does a big film with heroes, only then she becomes a No. 1 heroine? To me, that is not the testament of it. A lot of the films that I have done in my career are not piggybacking on the heroes. I have done the Krrishs and the Dons, but that is not what my career is about. My career is about the work I do. I live life on my terms. When I came, my contemporaries were very different and now, my contemporaries are very different.

Do you feel challenged by the younger actresses today?
They are hugely talented. Alia, Shraddha and Parineeti to me are really stars to look out for. They are great kids, great girls and supremely talented. But I also know that there is no one who can do what I do. I don't know what it is, but whatever I do, I know that I add something to it, be it small or big, there is a quality about me that is very individual to me. I don't want to sound proud or arrogant, but given the gamut of things I do, including pop albums, and the range of films that I do, right from Mary Kom to a Ram-Leela to a Dil Dhadakne Do to a Bajirao Mastani to a Don. Tell me, who can do that? I don't restrict myself and like to push the limit. Sometimes you fail, but I am willing to take the failure.

Despite you doing so many good films, why is it that the No. 1 slot is always oscillating between Katrina Kaif or Deepika Padukone? Does it bother you?
So if a girl does a big film with heroes, only then she becomes a No. 1 heroine? To me, that is not the testament of it. A lot of the films that I have done in my career are not piggybacking on the heroes. I have done the Krrishs and the Dons, but that is not what my career is about. My career is about the work I do. I live life on my terms. When I came, my contemporaries were very different and now, my contemporaries are very different.