Filmmaker Karan Johar recently attended the premiere of Kill, a movie that he co-produced, at the Toronto International Film Festival 2023. On the sidelines of the festival, he also spoke to ET Canada. On being asked to comment on Citadel star Priyanka Chopra's shift to Hollywood, Karan Johar described the move as "fantastic." Elaborating on the Dostana star's shift from Bollywood, Karan Johar said, "To see her (Priyanka Chopra) grow from strength to strength, and truly achieve the kind of success that she has on her terms… and the way she has gone about it, she is always wonderful on every platform that she has ever been on, everything that she ever stands for and represents.. it is fantastic."
ICYDK, Priyanka Chopra worked in the 2008 film Dostana, produced under Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.
Earlier this year, The Sky Is Pink star made headlines for her interview with Dax Shepard, where she revealed how she had "beef" with some people in Bollywood and how that pushed her to move to Hollywood.
Speaking to Dax Shepard on the podcast Armchair Expert, Priyanka Chopra said that she was sharing the reason behind her deciding to work in the US for the very first time. During the podcast, Dax Shepard asked: “So how do you decide you want to even put yourself through that? Why'd you decide to put yourself through that and then what was it?” To this, Priyanka said, “I've never said this so I'm going to say it because you'll make me feel safe.”
Speaking about the circumstances around her move to Hollywood, she revealed: “I was being pushed into a corner in the industry (Bollywood). I had people not casting me, I had beef with people, I am not good at playing that game so I kind of was tired of the politics and I said I needed a break."
The actress explained that during this phase, Anjula Acharia of Desi Hits – who is currently Priyanka Chopra's manager – saw her in a video and contacted her. At this point, Priyanka Chopra was shooting for Vishal Bharadwaj's Saat Khoon Maaf. Explaining that she had heard Priyanka Chopra's demo, Anjali asked if the actress would be interested in a music career in the US. The actress said that the offer came at a time when she was looking for options outside Bollywood.
She added, “This music thing allowed me to go into another part of the world, not crave for the movies I didn't want to get but I would be required to schmooze certain clubs and cliques of people. It would require grovelling and I had worked a long time by then that I didn't feel like I wanted to do it.”
As we now know, Priyanka Chopra's move to Hollywood did not stay confined to just the music industry. The actress went on to do many shows in the USA to the likes of Quantico, Citadel etc.
Coming back to Karan Johar, the director returned to director's chair with Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani after seven years. The film starring Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh did well at the box office.
