Priyanka Chopra on working with Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif in Jee Le Zaraa: ‘When I started out, we were pitted against each other’

When Jee Le Zaraa was announced with Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt in the lead roles, it was seen as a casting coup. Getting three top female stars in the same film probably would have been a difficult task some years ago, Priyanka said in a new interview, as they would’ve been ‘pitted’ against each other. Priyanka said that her generation has made ‘strides in creating a serhood’ and a strong community.
Speaking to Deadline, Priyanka noted how the early 2000’s were ‘dominantly patriarchal’ and there would just be one female lead who would emerge as the best. However, she notes that things have changed. “Whether it’s Bollywood or in America, what I’ve experienced is women standing up for women. I’m doing a movie in India now with two of the top actresses in the country, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt, and the three of us decided we wanted to do a movie together and partner together to produce it.”

She added, “But the idea is, yes, it was very different when I started out. We were all pitted against each other, and our casting was very dependent on the lead actor of the movie, and it depends on who is the flavor at that time and that was a very unsettling feeling.”
Priyanka Chopra made inroads in Hollywood with the show Quantico, and later with films such as Baywatch, Isn’t It Romantic, The Matrix: Resurrections among others. She married Nick Jonas in 2018, and the couple welcomed a daughter via surrogacy earlier this year. Asked where she sees herself five years from now, Priyanka answered, “I’m sure all of us are thinking right now, you know, you take one turn and see the world going to destruction, you take another turn and you see the world going to destruction all over again. It’s a scary place to raise children and to think about a future.” She added that the ‘world is a bit fractured’, and she wants to contribute to healing it with her films.
Priyanka Chopra has Citadel in the pipeline, along with Jee Le Zaraa and It’s All Coming Back To Me.