Quantico’s Priyanka Chopra

PREMIUM: Priyanka Chopra, who has appeared in almost 50 Indian feature films since 2002, talks about her starring role in the ABC drama Quantico.

WS: When did you decide you wanted to do American television?
CHOPRA: Keli Lee [executive VP of casting at ABC] came to India while I was filming Gunday [a 2014 action crime thriller.] She hung out with me on set and talked to me about doing a talent holding deal. I really did want to expand my horizons, expand myself creatively as an actor. Even with the films I’m doing in India, I’ve been trying to do a lot of different kinds of roles. I thought about it and said, let me at least have a read. I came to L.A. during pilot season and I read about 26 scripts. Quantico was my favorite, and ABC felt it was the best pilot for me, too.

WS: When you read the script, what was it that appealed to you?
CHOPRA: I love watching good TV. America is going through a golden age of television. The best content in America is on TV. Alex’s part and the story line of Quantico kept me guessing so much when I was reading the pilot. I think that’s how people are going to feel when they watch the season. It keeps you on your toes. I am a smart consumer of entertainment and I don’t like my intelligence being taken for granted. This show is gritty, it’s smart and it’s sexy. Those things combined make for good TV.

Quantico runs in two time periods, the future and the present. All of the recruits coming into Quantico have something to hide. So [the viewer] never knows what’s going to happen. And I still don’t know what’s going to happen! The people making the show—Mark Gordon, Josh Safran, Paul Lee [president of the entertainment group at ABC]—have made so much great TV that I have loved. They obviously know what they’re doing. My instinct tells me this will be something worth watching.

WS: I think it was Paul Lee who said your character was like a female Jason Bourne. How have you prepared for the physicality of playing an FBI recruit?
CHOPRA: I’ve done a lot of action movies. I’m so glad I did them! My last movie was Mary Kom, a biopic of a boxing champion. There was a lot of action in Don [a 2006 blockbuster hit]. I’ve played cops before. I have an interesting background, which made me relatively comfortable with the physical aspects of the role. But the hours are crazy and there’s a lot of stamina needed in the fight sequences. So I’m training and working out, which is something I hate doing!

WS: You mentioned that the hours have been tough. What are some of the other differences you’ve encountered between TV and film work?
CHOPRA: The hours—that’s the big one. The work culture is pretty much the same anywhere in the world. I’ve shot movies in Spain, in America, in the U.K. The funniest thing I’ve found is that all the ADs [assistant directors] in any part of the movie industry, in any part of the world, always dress the same! They’re always in shorts and loose T-shirts and bandanas and have walkie-talkies. I don’t find much of a difference in the work culture. The big difference is in the technicalities of filming [movies versus television]. TV is a marathon. It does not stop. It’s another beast.

WS: How does it feel knowing that STAR World has acquired the show for broadcast in India, day and date with the American airing?
CHOPRA: As soon as Quantico was picked up, the first thing I said to ABC was, This has to air in India simultaneously! It was important to me that it air as close as possible [to the U.S. broadcast]. You know that TV shows come to India 20 days later, a month later. I didn’t want that to happen with Quantico. India is where my roots are. I’m so happy that STAR World gets it.

WS: How will you balance your American television career with your Indian feature-film projects?
CHOPRA: I went to India [for three days in August] to work on Bajirao Mastani [a film set in 18^th century India due for release later this year]. My life is going to be like this. I still have to finish Bajirao Mastani, I’m doing Gangaajal 2 [in a role as a policewoman] and I’ve taken on two more films. So when this season is over I’ll go back to India and film those. I want to be able to balance both. Hindi movies is what I do, it’s who I am. As long as people want to watch me, I want to be able to entertain. Wherever that takes me in the world, I’ll go.

WS: What about your music career?
CHOPRA: That has suffered! I haven’t had time to go back to the studio. It’s been really nuts trying to straddle two worlds right now. But I’m hoping I can go back to it soon.