‘It is my responsibility to bring South Asian community to the forefront’: Priyanka

Mumbai, April 23

Actress-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who recently flew down to India for professional commitments, is all set to be seen in the upcoming streaming series 'Citadel,' in which she plays an elite spy along with Richard Madden.

Priyanka transitioned to the west almost a decade ago as she explored opportunities in music and worked with the likes of Pitbull and will.i.am, and eventually starred in projects like 'Quantico' and 'Baywatch', with 'Citadel' on the horizon.

The actress might have been in the west for quite sometime but she holds her Indian values close to her heart. Talking to IANS, PC said: "India is my identity. Wherever I go in the world, I am an Indian first and then everything else. I take a lot of pride in being born in a country which boasts of an ancient culture and such a mind-blowing mix of people."

She then factored in the concept of Indian hospitality which is known all over the world as she shared: "And I mean the world knows that nothing can come even remotely close to the Indian hospitality and the sentiment of 'atithi devo bhavah'. So, these are the values that I hold close to my heart and practice in my everyday life because that's who I am."

Being an Indian in a sea of American talents, who call the shots in Hollywood, it also gives her a sense of purpose. She told IANS: "It has been my aim to represent India on the international canvas. People from the South Asian community have been working in the west for very many years but, for some reason they were never given a chance to headline a project or to feature on the posters of an international film, in most of the cases."

She further mentioned: "When I started working in the west, it became very important for me to bring my community to the forefront and to bring in the recognition for the country which practically is one of the biggest film and entertainment markets. I take it up as my responsibility to ensure that all people from the South Asian community appear on the poster or headline the projects for the English content which is the global content and is viewed in most of the countries."

The first episode of 'Citadel' perfectly sets the tone for the series with its pitch-perfect mounting of action and establishment of characters as a lot of drama unfolds between the heavy action sequences. When asked if she did any improvisation or if she went completely by the book. Thie actress said: "The most interesting part about the opening sequence was that there was a lot of action happening inside the train - People were dying, an explosion was happening and I and Richard were still having a dialogue, screaming at each other across the two ends of the coach because that's how the relationship between these two agents is."

"So, there were a lot of improvisations even before the camera started rolling, while preparing the scenes we used to exchange a lot of information about the scene," she added.

As a closure to the conversation with IANS, PC spoke about the merits of long-format content: "Long format content is a blessing for the actors because they get to explore the character more and the back stories."

"As for the viewers, they also find it more engaging and invest more of their time trying to understand the world of the series or the film, the characters and where they come from," she concluded.

'Citadel' premieres on Prime Video on April 28.

--IANS