Over the years: Priyanka Chopra

From Miss World to a struggling actor who cut through to make it to the top... and now an international singer, here’s tracing the rise and rise of Priyanka Chopra.

From winning the Miss World crown at the age of 18 in 2000 to being one of the most successful actors today, Priyanka Chopra has come a long way.

This girl from a small town of Bareilly, ventured into Bollywood in 2003 with the Sunny Deol-starrer, The Hero: Love Story of a Spy, following it with the hit film, Andaaz, for which she won a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.

After some forgettable releases in 2004 such as Plan, Kismet and Asambhav, she was seen in David Dhawan’s hit Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. And, then came her critically-acclaimed performance in Aitraaz, where she essayed her first negative role of a seductress.

“A look at her filmography and you’ll realise that though she started with a bang she did not get many author-backed roles. She was more or less used as a glamour quotient by filmmakers till Aitraaz and Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. And, the films that followed were already in post-production and shooting stages and released afterwards. She became more cautious of her career choices post Krrish, a result of which was Dostana and Fashion. Though Priyanka’s films such as What’s Your Rashee and 7 Khoon Maaf backfired at the box-office, they made everyone notice that films are being written keeping her in mind,” says trade analyst Atul Mohan.

Further analysing Chopra’s career, he says, “Undoubtedly, Aitraaz, Krrish, Fashion and Dostana have been path-breaking films for Priyanka’s career. One could see that she wanted to keep herself in an exclusive bracket by doing big banner films. Over the last decade, she has done limited films, implying that she only wants the best roles for which she will be remembered for long.”

This year, she was seen in Agneepath and Teri Meri Kahaani. While her film, Barfi!, got released yesterday, her upcoming projects include Krrish 3 and Apoorva Lakhia’s Zanjeer remake. 2000

The big start

Priyanka was 18 years old when she won the Miss World title. The desi look and an Indianness in demeanour marked the style statement of Chopra, who hails from a small town in Bareilly.



2003

Bollywood transformation

The years from 2000 to 2003 saw a rather glamorous transition of sorts for Chopra as compared to her earlier demure avatar. Her style statement for films graduated to figure-hugging tops, denims and long tresses.



"Earlier, she was like any one else but she started working towards enhancing her style sense early in her career," says Delhi-based fashion designer Nida Mahmood.



2005

Knife love?

Chopra has always denied going under the knife, but between 2003 and 2005, the change in the shape and size of her lips and nose was hard to ignore.



2007

Miss experimental

In 2007, she showed the world that she is open to experimenting with her tresses. Chopra ditched her conventional long curly hair for a chic pixie look.



2009

The blues

In 2009, Chopra showed yet another side of her personality when she sported blue hair streaks. This look of hers became quite a hit with young girls.



2012

Glam diva

Going well with her image of an aspiring pop icon, Priyanka sports an edgy, superglam style these days.Flickside Story



Aitraaz

She won critical acclaim for her first negative role of a seductress in this film that also starred actors Kareena Kapoor and Akshay Kumar



Agneepath

Even though the film revolved around Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt,

her character Kali impressed the critics



Fashion

This one by director Madhur Bhandarkar was Chopra’s coming-of-age film, and a major turning point in her career



Don

Chopra pulled of her role of Roma with much aplomb. The junglee billi became an instant hit



Fact File

Born on: July 18, 1982 in Jamshedpur

Miss World: On November 30, 2000 in London

First Film: Tamil film Thamizhan (2002)

Family: Father, Col Ashok Chopra, and mother Dr Madhu Chopra. Both are physicians. Siddharth, her younger brother, is studying

Twitter Following
She joined Twitter on January 6, 2009.
Her handle @priyankachopra has 28,37,711 followers at present, which is the highest for any female Indian actor

Ad-ing to it
2003: After winning he Miss World title, she did many endorsements of FMGC products such as Dabur and Levis, among others, which made her a household face.

2005: After a few of her films bombed at the box office, her career in the ad world, too, went southwards.

2007: She signed her first-ever royalty-based deal with Virgin comics, where she had a ‘print avatar’ being promoted instead of her real name. In the same year, she became the first woman endorser of Hero Honda, which till then was heavily endorsed only by male celebrities.

2008: CelebTrack, the world’s largest research on celebs, professed her as the third most-admired woman endorser, and among the top 12, overall in India.