Parineeti Chopra made a smashing entry in Bollywood with two back-to-back blockbusters—Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl and Ishaqzaade—and I remember being mesmerized by her. The latter impacted me so much that I exited the theatre sobbing. Parineeti went on to do some amazing work post that, but she also had some failures. She even took a sabbatical in between to focus on her health and figure things out. But it was last year that Parineeti reinvented herself yet again with three diverse yet impactful films—The Girl On The Train, Saina and Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar—and proved that she is here to stay and rule.
Amongst these three films, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar was the one that people had the least amount of expectations from. The film had been ready and in the pipeline for a long time and people had already written it off, but upon its release, it was the one that received the most appreciation. Parineeti and Arjun Kapoor’s performances were unanimously lauded by everyone, with the film being described as one of the best of the year.
Talking about that, Parineeti says,
“I have discovered that I love surprising people. I think that when you give up on me or don’t expect something from me but I do it successfully, that’s what I love. Sandeep Aur Pink Faraar taught me that. A film that nobody had faith in, manages to become one of the top films of the year and the performances are spoken about, it just made me believe that if you do good work, it will be seen and if you do bad work, you will be abused for it. I have experienced both as I have done bad work and have received big bash for it and I have also done good work and received accolades for it. It’s amazing that this is the kind of audience we are amongst today. It’s the era of meritocracy today. It feels amazing that this tiny little film of ours which was not receiving any love, got so much love eventually.”
The actress now has such an amazing line up of films that include Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal with Ranbir Kapoor and Sooraj Barjatya’s Uunchai with Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta and Boman Irani. She recently even made her TV debut on the judging panel of Hunarbaaz: Desh Ki Shaan. Last month marked her completing a decade in the industry, and as I ask her if everything she has gone through in these 10 years was worth it and if she is happy, she gives me an honest answer.
Parineeti shares,
“I am very happy and I am happy even when things aren’t going so great. You have to be positive because it’s all a part of your life story and journey. If it’s not full of ups and downs, you’d be such a boring person. It’s good to have stories of failures and success. It’s good to have a comeback story and I am very happy with the way I got success and failure in equal measure. It made me the person I am today.”
It fills me with immense pride to see how Parineeti’s dedication and persistence has paid off and with each and every project of hers, she proves to me that I have put my weight behind a worthy person. I am just now looking forward to seeing more of her on screen.