India in New York February 14, 2014 | Page 13

Bollywood 13 INDIA IN NEW YORK FEBRUARY 14, 2014 Priyanka Chopra will release her third single in April. PAGE 12 In one of your recent interviews you mentioned that you work really hard and live a very hectic life. How do you take time out for your friends? My friends always call me non-existent in their lives. I love what I do. My work is my worship and it gives me a high. I sleep only for four hours in a day. I think sleeping is for the weak (laughs). I do take out time for my friends whenever I can. It’s became a little hectic since the time I am handling two careers (acting and singing) at the same time. There are times when my family and friends travel with me. Your father passed away last year and during that time you were the pillar of strength for your family. Who is your pillar of strength? My father was. I depended on him for everything. He was very protective of me. I think he was really proud of all my achievements. Now my mother has taken over that role. I read somewhere that you have attention deficit disorder. You tend to get bored of things easily. Will you ever get bored of acting? Yes, it could be that I will get bored of acting. It hasn’t happened yet. I am extremely unpredictable... But you know with acting, it always keeps an actor attentive and that is why I do so many different characters. It’s very easy for me to be the safe heroine who does all the films, which have the songs and scenes, but I want to be able to make my own path. My next film is always different from what I have done before. I like to play strong characters in my film. Is that the reason why you end up doing films like Fashion, 7 Khoon Maaf and Mary Kom? I don’t think so much when I take up a film. For example, I have a pivotal role in Gunday. It is because of my character, everything happens in the film. There are many different shades to my character in the film. It’s completely different from my last film (Krrish 3), which was a mainstream commercial blockbuster. I do like to do different characters and even if there is a similar character that I have played earlier, I try and make it different by changing the look or adding some nuances. At the same time you end up doing a small role in a film like Krrish 3. You have to do those films also. I don’t why other actresses don’t get questioned when they do a 10-minute role in big blockbuster movies. Maybe people expect a lot more from me. To be a mainstream actor and to be able to do a film where a producer can rely on you like in the case of my next film Mary Kom, you have to be a saleable actor and to ‘I think sleeping is for the weak’ be a saleable actor you have to be a part of big blockbuster movies. I personally enjoy watching masala Hindi films, which are full of action, herogiri and glamorous heroines. Moving away from films, you shot a video for your new single in Los Angeles last month. How was the experience? It was a great experience. I am really excited about my next single. I am also nervous because it’s my fir