Priyanka Chopra may have spoken out for social causes when she won the Miss World crown in 2000, but it seems like that was all talk and no action.
A few days ago, the actress agreed to endorse a programme initiated by Whisper (Whisper Women's Empowerment Initiative), but backed out later.
The company had no option but to rope in Perizaad Zorabian at the last minute.
What is it about?
The initiative involves empowering three young women to make a positive change in their lives. The winners — Bhubaneshwar's Pinky Pradhan, Chennai's Deepthi Pasumarthy and Mumbai's Aanchal Shetty — won the Whisper Ultra Power In Your Hands Contest for young women above 18, to share their dreams and win an opportunity to change their life.
They were chosen based on the articulation of their dream, emotional content, and clarity of expression in the fields of acting, fashion designing and social work on women's rights.
| Priyanka's fee
Priyanka had to attend the event at NCPA Experimental theatre, Nariman Point, on January 25 and felicitate the winner, Pinky, and mentor her for a day or two in the field of acting.
Initially, Priyanka did not demand anything. Says a reliable source, "She agreed to do it for free. Then suddenly, she demanded Rs 4 lakh as remuneration. The company relented, but when it was time to sign on the dotted line, Priyanka told them she wouldn't take less than Rs 10 lakh. All her talk during Miss World 2000 is c**p." Perizaad to mentor
| | | Perizaad Zorabian with Pinky | The source says that in contrast, Zorabian charged a nominal fee for her NGO. "Perizaad is very sweet. And I must say, Priyanka left Whisper speechless." As part of the acting support, Pinky will receive mentoring from Zorabian, along with a behind-the-scenes workshop that will feature in a special episode on MTV.
Adds the source, "Perizaad has been kind enough to take time off from her busy schedule to travel, genuinely wanting to make a difference to the life of a young girl.
Perizaad made it to the event at a notice of less than 24 hours. Despite her hectic schedule, she is going ahead with mentoring Pinky. Priyanka's royal ditch is an act of high-handed unprofessionalism."
Despite repeated attempts to contact her, Priyanka Chopra was unavailable for comment. |
| The other mentors...
Fashion design: Designer Krishna Mehta is in charge here. Winner Deepthi visited Mehta's boutique at Lower Parel to view her collections, had an intensive session with Krishna to understand the importance of cut, colour and style trends, and visited Krishna's workshop to interact with tailors and karigars and learn the intricacies of design, fabric and stitching.
Deepthi will now design an haute couture outfit for mentor Krishna and will begin a four-month professional course at the National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD), Chennai.
Social Work: Teesta Setalvad, editor of Communalism Combat, holds the reins in this department.
Winner Aanchal visited NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace, participated in a discussion with Saher (a communal harmony youth group based in Jogeshwari) to launch a Peace Week to reduce injustice to women, met a woman victim of the March 1993 riots to understand the rehabilitation process.
She also visited Project Khoj, which provides secular education to children in 27 schools in Mumbai. | |
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