Alia is doing the films I did at the beginning of my career: Parineeti Chopra

Alia Bhatt garnered praise for films such as Udta Punjab and Highway. Fellow actor and ‘friend’ Parineeti Chopra says her own filmography is no less glossy.

Actors Alia Bhatt and Parineeti Chopra have always been pitted as rivals. Although Alia has been praised for her performances in Udta Punjab and Highway (2014), Parineeti feels her own filmography is no less glossy.

Actor Parineeti Chopra says her own filmography is no less glossy.

“She did those films, but I did them right at the start of my career. I did Ishaqzaade (2012) and won the National Award for that. The kind of films she started with... things like Student of the Year (2012) or Kapoor and Sons, are the kind of films I’m doing now,” says Parineeti, insisting it’s just a different graph. “Alia started with a glamorous film, I started with a non-glam one,” adds the actor, who will now be seen alongside actor Ayushmann Khurrana in romantic film Meri Pyaari Bindu.

Actor Parineeti Chopra says that seeing actors such as Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone do well makes her work harder. (Hindustan Times)

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Compare her all you want with her contemporaries — be it Alia, Deepika Padukone or cousin Priyanka Chopra — and Parineeti won’t mind it. In fact, the 27-year-old says it pushes her to perform better. “This (other actors delivering hit films) keeps me on my toes. It makes me work harder and do as well as them. There is no negativity,” she says.

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Parineeti is not one to stay away from friendships in Bollywood. She cherishes her equation with Alia and actor Shraddha Kapoor, and says they are friends first, colleagues later. “I knew Alia before her first film released, and Shraddha even before she started acting. Our friendship really helps. It only means more encouragement for each other. And even if there is competition, it is healthy,” says the actor.