UAE: Priyanka Chopra recalls early days when 'six movies flopped back to back'

Priyanka Chopra said the biggest pivots of her 25-year career were driven not by ambition but by “survival", recalling a phase in the early 2000s when “six movies flopped back to back” and forced her to reinvent herself.

Speaking at the Bridge Summit in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Chopra said each change in her professional life — whether entering music, Hollywood or launching new businesses — came from moments when something she relied on “suddenly didn’t exist anymore”.

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“I’ve had to pivot so many times,” she said. “There were phases where one year I did six movies and all six tanked. And then suddenly someone else was doing the films I wanted to do. My pivots were never about choice. They were about survival.”

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She added that while her career from the outside might look like a sequence of bold reinventions, “they only look strategic in hindsight. At the time, I was just trying to figure out what to do next.”

‘I’m only now on other side of my sacrifices’

Chopra said her twenties were defined by saying yes to everything because she had no industry connections and no safety net.

“When I started, you didn’t have the privilege to say no,” she said. “It’s tough to just get the work.” She recalled accepting every opportunity, travelling constantly, and missing key family milestones because refusing work “didn’t feel like an option”.

Today, she said she feels she is “on the other side” of her early sacrifices. “Now I get to choose. Now I can decide what feels right for me,” she said — but added that this privilege came only after decades of relentless work.

‘Time and place for everything’

Chopra challenged the cultural pressure — especially amplified on social media — to be constantly productive. “You can hustle, but you can’t hustle at all times,” she said. “Everything has its time and place.” 

She described her early career as an unavoidable grind, with schedules so stacked she often went “from one flight to another” with barely a pause. But she said life has seasons, and the constant pressure to “grind, grind, grind” ignores the personal cost. 

“When you’re young, you can push harder. But priorities change,” she said, referencing motherhood, health and family life as factors she now weighs carefully.

Haneen Dajani

haneen@khaleejtimes.com

Haneen Dajani is special correspondent in Abu Dhabi with over 15 years of reporting experience. She’s also a passionate athlete, full Ironman finisher, and mountaineer who loves to embark on unusual challenges.