Bollywood star turned Hollywood icon Priyanka Chopra spoke candidly about a pivotal moment in her career when she felt compelled to look for opportunities outside Hindi cinema.
The actress, who has built an impressive global career spanning acting, singing, and producing, revealed that leaving Bollywood was never her personal choice, but circumstances pushed her to explore international projects.
Speaking to Firstpost, Priyanka shared, “I don’t think I ever wanted to leave Bollywood. I felt limited for many reasons when I was working in Hindi films. I wanted to expand. I was kind of pushed into wanting to look for opportunities that would be exciting to me as an artiste.”
This decision led her to Hollywood, where she has established herself as a versatile performer, navigating both TV and film over the past 12 years.
While her last Hindi film appearance was in The Sky Is Pink (2019), Priyanka is now returning to Indian cinema with the Telugu project Varanasi.
She expressed joy at working in India again, emphasizing that she enjoys straddling both Bollywood and Hollywood: “I would hate to have to choose between the two.
They are both different to work with in many ways, just as cultures are, but now, my brain can work in two different ways, so it’s really a unique, amazing, fun thing to be able to do.”
Priyanka also spoke on past challenges in Bollywood, noting that she did not come from a film family and lacked the kind of industry backing often enjoyed by nepotism babies.
In interviews, including a podcast with Dax Shepard, she has highlighted how these obstacles helped shape her resilience and drive.
Looking ahead, Priyanka stars in the upcoming Prime Video release The Bluff, a 19th-century pirate adventure co-starring Karl Urban, in which she performed the majority of her stunts herself. The film is set to release on February 25, 2026.