'Priyanka Chopra lost 10 films for standing up to sexual harassment in Bollywood'

Bollywood Diva Priyanka Chopra, who was named among Forbes’ World’s Most Powerful Women List 2017, lost 10 films for standing up to sleazy men in Bollywood, her mother has revealed.

In an interview with an Indian daily, Chopra’s mother was asked if her daughter faced harassment or sleazy behaviour as more and more such cases surface in Hollywood.

“She was just 17 when she entered the industry, so I accompanied her every minute of the day till about three years ago. So a gentleman meets her and says: 'Will your mother sit outside while I narrate the story to you?' Priyanka told him, 'If it is a story that my mother can’t hear then it is a story that I cannot do,'" she said.

Chopra’s mother said she told her daughter that losing on some work is “not the end of your life. Your life is more valuable." 

Narrating another incident, she said, “a designer told her that the director’s brief was to dress her in itsy-bitsy clothes. The director had said, 'What is the point of having a Miss World in front of the camera if we cannot show her as her beautiful self?' Priyanka refused to do the film. It was being helmed by a reputed director and he got upset. Priyanka lost 10 films because she walked out of that project. But she didn't care. That is what I say to everyone. This is not the end of your life. Your life is more valuable."

Asked how Hollywood treated her daughter, she said, that "they gave Priyanka a lot of respect. If you live on your own terms, the struggle is bigger but the outcome is sweeter too. This is my advice to every girl. Do not compromise and life will be sweeter for you."

The dusky beauty has on various occasions spoken up about her experiences being a woman in the huge Indian film industry.

In a September interview she said that she is “extremely ambitious and I think it's a really great quality for girls to have. Somehow, ambition and feminism have turned into bad words, and they're not."

Speaking about ambition, she said that it is wanting “to be the best version of yourself". She added, “I have learned that over time. [But] of course, there are dark moments when you're just like, 'I can't do this,' and you feel scared."

However, she claimed to never let these feelings bring her spirit down. "I never say 'no' to anything because you never know the new experience that will come your way. Yes, it's really hard sometimes. As

a girl, as someone who didn't know anyone in the business or the entertainment industry, it was very solitary, my journey. It's been very long, and that's been the hard part. It makes you vulnerable."