Priyanka Chopra Devises New Plans For Working Mothers In Her Production House

Priyanka Chopra celebrates her 36th birthday today (courtesy AFP)

Priyanka Chopra's production house Purple Pebble Pictures has just gone through a number of reforms, one of them being flexible timings for working mothers, reports mid-day. Speaking to the publication, the actress' mother Madhu Chopra, who also works as Priyanka's manager, said: "Since 80 per cent of our female staff is married, we had to keep their interests in mind. The idea was simple - why should women's life choices become professional hurdles?" She added while Priyanka came up with the idea of flexible timings, the technicalities were taken care of by the seniors: "The policy of flexible timings for mothers was set in place by Priyanka, but fine-tuned by senior members of our company."

Purple Pebble Pictures also offers monetary aide to expecting mothers apart from maternity leaves, Madhu Chopra told mid-day, adding that provisions for an attached creche are currently being worked on. "We give 12 weeks' maternity leave and financial assistance for care," she said. When asked if the male employees of the firm would enjoy similar benefits, Ms Chopra said: "That's the rule of gender parity. One of our marketing executives took paternity leave of four weeks."

Earlier, a previous report in mid-day stated that Priyanka and her mother were planning to engage more female artistes and they will reportedly add a clause in the contracts, which will state that remuneration will not be determined based on gender. "The pay scale is determined by the merit, qualification and talent. So there are different parameters, but gender is definitely not one of them. We believe in gender equality and that applies to remuneration too," she had told mid-day in March.

About encouraging women employees to be independent through Purple Pebble Pictures, Ms Chopra had told mid-day: "We have women story writers, directors and camera technicians. So in every aspect of filmmaking, we are encouraging women. Although I would reiterate that we give equal opportunity, there is a certain bias towards women at the moment because they are marginalised and we have to give them an additional push."

Purple Pebble Pictures' Marathi production Ventilator scored three National Awards. She's also produced Punjabi film Sarvann and Sikkimese project Pahuna. Priyanka's production house is also making films such as the bilingual Nalini, Little Joe, Kahaan Ho?, which is based in Goa, Bhojpuri film Bam Bam Bol Raha Hain Kashi and a Marathi production Kai Re, Rascala. Priyanka is also producing Bengali film Brishtir Opekhaye, an adaptation of Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay's novel.