Happy birthday Priyanka Chopra: Her journey from small-town girl to global icon

Priyanka Chopra is a star today – someone that every person out there aspires to be. From having supportive family to amazing friends in the industry, being on every director’s wishlist and now even hanging out with one of the most desirable in Hollywood, Nick Jonas and his family, Priyanka Chopra has ticked all aspects in being a successful, powerful, independent, strong woman.

And she has even made her journey in Hollywood such a memorable one that everybody out here is envious and aspires to come somewhere close to her. Alas, not everyone can become the brand Priyanka Chopra, no matter how hard they try.

Coming from the streets of Jamshedpur, she started her journey with modelling, and was one of the most recognized as she won the Miss World 2000 pageant at the age of 18 (wow) after making Shah Rukh Khan speechless (double wow).

She eventually entered the film industry, and after working in Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Aitraaz’, the actress’ fame shot up in one go. The two worked together in various films, including ‘Waqt’ and ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karogi’.

The latter also starred Salman Khan, who is once again set to work with the now global star in their upcoming film ‘Bharat’.

After Priyanka’s collaboration with Akshay ended reportedly due to the infamous sexual act which was caught by Twinkle Khanna, she found her success as Junglee billi in ‘Don’ series with Shah Rukh Khan and simultaneously, she established herself in Hrithik Roshan starrer ‘Krrish’.

Soon after bagging ‘Don’, Priyanka was seen in cameo appearances in Shah Rukh Khan’s movies. Among the many actors, she also featured in ‘Om Shanti Om’ song ‘Deewangi Deewangi’ followed by ‘Rocking and Reeling’ in his production film ‘Billu’, and she also made a cameo as a desi girl in SRK’s ‘dream project’ ‘Ra.One’.

Meanwhile her career was seeing a little more boost as PeeCee’s films were getting noticed – either because they were disasters or because it was hard-hitting and she nailed her performance in them.

After her infamous affair with Aseem Merchant, Priyanka Chopra was once again in news for allegedly dating Harman Baweja, her ‘Love Story 2050’ co-star. The film and her relationship both were a huge disaster, which were followed by more disasters like ‘God Tussi Great Ho’ and ‘Drona’.

However all of this subsided right after she did ‘Fashion’, ‘Dostana’ and ‘Kaminey’. But there she was again – giving more flops like ‘What’s Your Raashee?’, ‘Pyaar Impossible!’, post which she gave average movies – ‘Anjaana Anjaani’ with Ranbir Kapoor and ‘7 Khoon Maaf’ with various actors, including Irrfan Khan, John Abraham and Naseeruddin Shah.

The news reports later on suggested that Priyanka wasn’t only impressing Shah Rukh Khan professionally but also personally as they were supposedly seeing each other. The news gained a new hype during ‘Don 2’ promotions, where photos suggested how smitten SRK was with Piggy Chops.

And then there was no stopping Priyanka! She got noticed in popular movies like ‘Agneepath’, ‘Barfi!’, ‘Krrish 3’, ‘Gunday’, ‘Mary Kom’, ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ and of course, her last film before switching to Hollywood – Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Bajirao Mastani’. In that film, despite being a supporting actress, PeeCee stood out as the perfect Indian woman, Kashibai.

She was also in news for her dance numbers ‘Babli Badmaash’ from ‘Shootout At Wadala’, ‘Ram Chahe Leela’ in ‘Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela’. Meanwhile, she also began her singing career by doing albums with international artists, which was her first step to Hollywood.

By 2016, Priyanka Chopra had moved to LA, becoming the face of TV series ‘Quantico’, bagging ‘Baywatch’, ‘A Kid Like Jake’ and ‘Isn’t It Romantic?’, being the UNICEF brand ambassador, walking the Met Gala twice and dating one of the most desirable men Nick Jonas.

However, she didn’t lose touch with India and in fact, gave her voice for the Marathi film ‘Ventilator’, which was backed by her production house Purple Pebble Pictures.

Right now the actress is gearing up for ‘Bharat’, but before that, she is spending time with her love and his family on her birthday today.

They both have not yet made it official, but do we even need anything more when the two families have met the couple?

So, in the true sense, a small town girl Priyanka Chopra has become a global icon, all in 18 years and at the age of 36 years, setting major goals for everyone and asking them to dream out loud and fearlessly.