Priyanka Chopra and Parineeti Chopra’s cousin, Meera Chopra is a popular actress in the Tamil and Telugu industries with over 25 films in her belt. However, she was unable to replicate this success in Bollywood. In a recent chat, she opened up about her equation with Priyanka and the ‘cult’ like behaviour in Bollywood.
Reflecting on her dynamic with Priyanka, Meera Chopra told Hitflik, “Our fathers are first cousins. We were a very close-knit family when we were young. Very middle class. When we were small, nobody really thought that we would get into the glamour field. When Priyanka made her breakthrough, she paved the way for us all. Otherwise, I feel that, back then, the middle class never considered cinema as a profession. People didn’t think beyond doctors and engineers.”
Meera also spoke about her success in the South and said, “In the South, I never went out and looked for work. I was not even interested in the South because I am a very North Indian Punjabi girl. The language was always an issue for me. Every movie I did there, I told myself, ‘This will be my last film’. Yet, I ended up doing about 25 films. It was because they were offering me work and the money they gave was so tempting.”
She said, “I have heard stories of people who have been dying to work down South meeting the wrong people. I never faced that; in fact, I faced this in Bollywood. Here, I was going out and looking for work. I never got work served on a platter.”
Reflecting on why she couldn’t replicate her success up North, Meera mentioned, “It’s a little scary to start with. It’s a very close-knit industry. A lot of people don’t know what goes inside. Nobody knows where to start. When I came here, I didn’t know if I needed to meet a certain director, and how I needed to go about it. Nobody shares their numbers, and even if they do, the person never replies to your messages.” “I came from a very successful career, and I had the confidence that I would be able to make it. When you come from a successful career in one industry, it becomes difficult to start from scratch in another,” Meera shared.
She recalled, “In the beginning, I was told, ‘You have to network, you have to go to parties, you have to make your own connections’, which now I know is very important because this industry is like a cult. There are many different cults in this industry, and you have to be a part of one group so that you keep getting work from that group. It still happens that way. In this industry, you get work if you are friends with the right people. It’s much easier. To prove your worth takes much longer time and struggle… I would have done over 20 films even if I didn’t have the talent.”
She said, “A lot of times, I have given auditions for several roles, which I don’t give anymore because I have lost faith in it. It happens that you audition for a role, and a month later you are informed the role has gone to somebody who belongs to the industry. It has become a rampant practice.”
“Right now, the industry is flooded with star kids, and sorry to say, they are very average. Except for Alia (Bhatt), I don’t see anybody having the calibre to do the kind of work they are doing. They are getting work only because they were born and raised in this industry. Will anybody bet on an outsider after four flops? No,” she concluded.
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