Priyanka Chopra said that the main difference between working in India and Hollywood is that there’s a lot more ‘jugaad’ in Bollywood.
Priyanka Chopra made her Hollywood acting debut with the TV show Quantico in 2015, and since then, the actor has largely pursued a career in the West. But prior to that, Priyanka had a burgeoning career in India, and continues to be one of the most famous film actors in her home country. On a recent visit to Mumbai, when Priyanka was asked about the main difference between working in Hollywood and Bollywood, she said that there is less wiggle room in the West.
Talking to Forbes India, Priyanka said that the biggest difference between the two is that India functions on ‘jugaad’, while Hollywood follows strict structures. “The one big difference that I have noticed between Hollywood and Bollywood is Hollywood has so much paperwork. There’s so much paperwork, 100 emails that will come to you before the next day. And timings are very specific. So your call time can be 7:32 pm or am. It depends on what time you were wrapped the night before. There’s no room to play unless you’re working with a filmmaker that does that. But within production, it’s really tight and its very organised,” she said.
Priyanka then spoke about working in India, and said, “We have a lot more jugaad, we get stuff done. We’re a little romantic about… ‘Arre nikal jayega, ho jayega, kar lenge’ so it’s very different way of working but that’s also true to the countries in themselves. I think our creativity can be super organic sometimes and we’re like ‘let’s change this.’ So that’s the big difference that I’ve seen. Otherwise I think filmmaking around the world speaks the same language. You have the script, you have ADs, you have producers, like otherwise it’s the same, but it’s just the cultural differences.”
Priyanka has not worked in an Indian film since 2019’s The Sky is Pink. She was announced as a part of Farhan Akhtar’s Jee Le Zaraa with Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif but the project hasn’t moved ahead since since first announcement in 2021. Priyanka has been actively producing films in India and recently produced the Marathi film Paani.
Priyanka is currently working on the second season of Prime Video series Citadel. She is looking forward to the release of her films Heads of State with Idris Elba and John Cena, and The Bluff.
