Priyanka Chopra talks about how she overcame her limited networking abilities and fought nepotism on her road to Bollywood stardom.
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00:00If I talk about sexual harassment, which I think every woman in this room probably has,
00:07how many have?
00:08That's a pretty full house.
00:11Nepotism and Bollywood go hand in hand.
00:13Everyone knows that.
00:14Who knows Bollywood?
00:15Have you ever experienced that kind of harassment yourself?
00:45It's okay to just lightly tap a girl on her bum, and it's okay to just make comments
01:14which are sort of unnecessary and not required, because boys will be boys.
01:20Because come on, he's just being a guy.
01:22As women, as society, we've had people who we trust and love say that to us, that we
01:27never even questioned it.
01:29And slowly, I think this is probably after, at least in my lifetime, one of the first
01:35times that I've seen women support each other so much and come and stand with each other
01:38that now, if I have a story, I don't feel like I'm alone anymore, and nor am I ashamed
01:43of it.
01:44And because of maybe my strength or your strength or your strength, it'll give some girl who's
01:49sitting in the anonymity of a home, not being able to even have a choice or a voice, the
01:54power to be able to do that, and that's extremely amazing.
01:57Bollywood used to be quite an insular industry with a few small families dominating.
02:01How hard was it for you to break into Bollywood?
02:04Was that itself, its own mountain to climb?
02:07Yes.
02:08Bollywood, nepotism and Bollywood go hand in hand.
02:11Who knows that?
02:12Who knows Bollywood?
02:13But there have been a few incredible actors over the years that have been able to penetrate
02:18that and make a name for themselves and then create their own legacy, which is something
02:23I'm hoping to do.
02:25It was very hard.
02:26I didn't know anyone.
02:28Everyone was friends with everybody when I joined the movie business, and I'm not really
02:33good at networking.
02:34I'm not very good at going to the parties and doing the thing.
02:37So it was a little difficult, but I kind of depended on the fact that I was not afraid
02:42to take on risky parts.
02:45I depended on the fact that I would do things and perform in my characters, that when people
02:51come out of a movie, they don't recognize me, they recognize my character.
02:56I started working on the craft.
02:58I started working on the art of it.
03:00Of course, I learned dancing and made sure that I was good at that.
03:04But I think working on yourself sort of gave me the ability to create those opportunities.
03:10From my first film, which did really well, and I got a lot of accolades for it, I think
03:14it was just uphill.
03:15I just made sure that I didn't stop working on myself.