Priyanka Chopra certainly needs no introduction, keeping her current professional graph in mind. Returning to her home ground, the actress was in the capital flaunting yet another colourful feather from her myriad multi-national and multi-faceted cap — she spoke to win not just hearts but to ignite the minds of adolescent school children with her worldview, vision, experience and expectations as the Unicef Goodwill Ambassador at their #FairStart campaign.
Success and failure
“Success,” she says, “is not a destination but a journey. Yes, I am a superstar today. But I am still struggling. Struggles don’t end when you have become successful. You are known by your last failure and that will happen to every single person. You just need to strive for excellence every single day of your life. There is no substitute for hard work for anybody. Everyone is dispensable.”
She continues, “The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. Never be afraid to fall and fail.”
Violence and religion
The actress, who is also a globetrotter, feels pained at the violence and acts of terrorism taking place in different parts of the world. PC, who was recently spotted spending some quality time with her mother in Paris, reflected on global terrorism, and rued, “I believe in humanity. I also always believe in the fact that irrespective of where we are living at this present moment, we are going through a violent turmoil. Violence seems to have become our everyday reality. And sadly we have become desensitised to it. Every day we read and hear about deaths of hundreds of people around the globe but what do we do? Turn a blind eye? Why are we fighting anyway... for what reason? Your God is better than mine? Who has seen God? How can we be creating such disparities based on faith? Everyone has the right to have his or her own, right? It is just sad.”
Movies and social messages
Issue-based movies and their makers have got flak from the Censor Board in recent times. Talking about the moral element in the cinematic medium making a valuable impact on the populace, the actress points out, “Firstly, cinema is a main source of entertainment, and it would be wrong to mix up social issues with entertainment. Cinema is nothing but a mode of storytelling, just like books. In both the media, it’s up to the author or filmmaker to talk, write and showcase a social issue or stick to the parameters of entertainment. I don’t think we need to put the sole responsibility of changing society on the entertainment industry. It’s the job of the government. Celebrities and public figures (not just actors), on the other hand, should always be bound by social responsibilities. Whereas, cinema… can, may, should, maybe or maybe not carry a moral message.”
Feminism and Gender disparity
“Feminism just needs two things. Women joining hands to help one another instead of pulling each other down. Secondly, it needs men. Good, educated and conscious men who understand the need to have equal rights, equal participation in an equal social structure. Actually, the problem lies in our mentality/ mindset; it is in-built. Mothers can bring about a huge change too, by educating their sons. As much as we need a drive to empower our women, we should strive to empower our men by making them understand the value of a woman in a social structure,” she shares.
