As Priyanka Chopra sets out to become our very own “Million Dollar Baby” by featuring in and as “Mary Kom”, she can feel the weight of the mantle. “It is a huge responsibility. Mary and her husband Onler have shared the deep fears that we discuss within family with me. Training in boxing and working out in gym is easier stuff. If I train hard I might become a decent boxer, if I go to gym regularly I will develop muscles but depicting the emotional core was my real concern. Will the people be able to feel Mary’s struggle through me. I am punching above my weight like Mary did in Olympics,” says Priyanka in an interview on the wheels. One joins her in her black Audi as she criss-crosses Delhi and NCR on a whirlwind tour with my driver in his modest Santro trying to outpace the sedan to have a look at the star whose glamorous image often outpaces the actor.
According to her the film will help her give the dignity that Mary deserves not just as sportsperson but also as a lady and somebody who comes from the Northeast. Few know that the Olympic medallist’s father-in-law was shot dead and it almost ended her career. “We have touched upon various issues that shaped Mary’s life and insurgency is one of them.” Is that the reason that the film is not releasing in Manipur? “Hindi films are banned in Manipur for more than a decade. It is a very delicate matter and we should not be judgmental about it.” But it is about their daughter? “But it is still a Hindi film. And you can gauge people’s anger from their decision. I feel for Mary’s sake it should have released. She is an icon there. But outsiders should not comment on what happens in someone’s house and I guess we are outsiders in this case. It is not fair for me to comment on such a big decision taken by the people of a State. However, when I went there I found that they know all my films and most of my songs. We danced on “Desi Girl”. Mary has herself tried but if it doesn’t happen I will say it was not in the film’s fate.”
With most of the cast drawn from the Northeast, chances are that Priyanka might become the odd one out. “Mary’s Hindi is poor and if we had spoken her way a large section of the audience would not have understood the dialogues. So we have taken a creative liberty to keep the dialogues in Hindi. However, there were dialect coaches, who helped me develop a Manipuri accent like the way I worked on Marathi twang in Kaminey . I spent time with Mary at her house. I went to her school, her church, her father’s home. I even peeped into her cupboards. She was shy about it but I was adamant.”
Priyanka says she was aware of the fact that there is little physical similarity between the two. “I am an actor. And if I fail to dissolve myself into a character it will be my failure. Our faces don’t match. So it was all the more important for me to bring her personality out. I want people to believe after a few scenes that they are watching Mary Kom. I don’t want to play Priyanka Chopra.” “By the way,” she adds, “we did try prosthetics and VFX to match eyebrows and all but then it was looking too gimmicky. As a team we decided to encapsulate her spirit.”
But we have often seen when stars are surrounded by a fresh support cast their performance starts looking rehearsed. “I have not thought so much about it. Ab main play kar rahi hoon naa. Ab main hoon Priyanka Chopra ab main kya karoon,” counters Priyanka adding when she gets passionate she switches to Hindi.
“This is not a docudrama,” she emphasises. Now Onler and Mary would not have been singing songs but we are doing it in the film. Onler liked it. Mary asked me why I don’t dance because she dances very well. I said, ‘Mary if we show you dancing we would be slammed.’ I have sung in the film because she loves singing. In a scene Mary sings to her child.”
And when it comes to the core, Priyanka finds Mary’s story an extension of her as a woman. “Like her for me my personal space precedes everything else. I also feel why can’t a mother who is supposed to be a home maker could be a professional as well.” Perhaps Mary’s father was not as supportive as hers. “My father was supportive of me only when my mother decided to be with me because I was 17 when I went for Miss World pageant. In small cities our upbringing is such that we tend to protect our daughters,” she relates.
Priyanka says the film is not just for girls. “It is for every young person who is told that because of your condition and circumstances you can’t achieve your dreams. There is scene in the film where Mary shaves her head in protest. Which girl will do it I asked and somebody might say it is fictional but it is a fact.”
The so-called protectors of Indian culture don’t like to associate adjectives like ziddi (obstinate) with girls. “Mary Kom” celebrates the propensity to be stubborn about your goals with a song called “Ziddi”. Cynics might say that Priyanka is leading the girls astray. “Male audience need to understand that girls are not their property. She is not a commodity whose volume or setting you can change at will. Onler says that he doesn’t mind if somebody laughs at him but he is not ready to listen a single word against Mary’s profession. We need this kind of security in a man that he says that I will take care of kids, you go and fight.”
And critics need to understand that Priyanka will return to her glamorous avatar after this one. “I am not one of those actresses who want to fit into a mould. I did ‘Aitraaz’ in my second year in the industry. I was a villain in the film and I was told that from now I will be cast as a vamp. When I did ‘Fashion’, I was told nobody watches female-oriented films but the film took an opening. When I did ‘Don’ I was told heroines are not supposed to indulge in serious action. I am a game changer and I want every girl should have the courage to experiment. The fear of failure should not stop. I went to another country and made music. If we won’t take risks in our youth then when will we. There is nothing like do or die in life.”
When she is so sorted and articulate why did she not respond to some hard hitting questions from the Internet users recently? “They were in my personal space.” Asking whether she uses auto tune while singing doesn’t amount to breaching the personal space...
“When I make muscles they say that they have been Photoshopped. When I sing they say I use auto tune. When I drove a bike in ‘Don’, they said I used a body double. According to them I can’t do anything on my own and I am fabricated but I know how much hard work I put in and believe that some day I will be accepted as a person who could do multi-tasking,” jabs Priyanka as the journey comes to a halt.
