‘Baywatch’ Star Priyanka Chopra On Her Villainous Role: ‘Victoria Is A B***h’

Priyanka Chopra transitions between Hollywood and Bollywood roles with the skill of a circus high wire acrobat and, while she may relish in the diversity offered by a dual career, her latest project has Priyanka confined to American beaches and she loves it. More specifically, Ms. Chopra is really enjoying playing the villain to Dwayne Johnson’s hero in the big screen reboot of Baywatch. In recent interviews, Chopra opens up about finding the fun in playing the big, bad villain and also talks more about her determination to succeed without playing the stereotypical roles usually offered to Indian actors.

Baywatch Star Priyanka Chopra On Playing The Villain And Loving It

The Baywatch reboot is categorized as a comedy, but hearing star Priyanka Chopra talk about her character in the film leaves one wondering just how funny the film can be with someone like Victoria Leeds running around, making trouble for lifeguards Mitch Buchanan (Johnson) and Summer Quinn (Alexandra Daddario). Ms. Chopra told India Today that she has enjoyed playing the part of the villain in Baywatch, because it has allowed her to do things she wouldn’t normally do in her own life and that, adds Priyanka, is something that can be very addicting.

“[Victoria] is mean and patronizing and evil just because she can be and I don’t know if Dwayne’s ever had that,” says the Baywatch actress.

Priyanka shows a measure of her amusement with playing the evil character of Victoria as she comments that her high heels lifted her up on her “tippy toes” as she indulged her evil whims at the expense of the Baywatch heroes. Chopra adds that she has enjoyed being bad more than maybe she should have, but that, off camera, she bonded with all of her Baywatch co-stars, heroes and villains alike.

Priyanka Chopra Isn’t One To Give Up

Ms. Chopra is still fairly new to American audiences, except for those to have been following ABC’s Quantico, which casts Priyanka in the lead role. As Hindustan Times reveals in their interview with Ms. Chopra, Baywatch will be the actress’ Hollywood debut, and it’s an achievement that has come as a result of great perseverance and determination on Chopra’s part. For the Quantico and Baywatch actress, being pigeonholed into just one genre or medium is the worst thing that could happen. Priyanka just doesn’t want to feel limited and that applies just as much to her work in the American film industry as it does to her achievements in the Hindi film industry.

“You have to figure out what your weakness and your strengths are,” says Ms. Chopra. “Once you identify your weakness and your strength, you put the weakness in a box, shut it and put it away and you focus on the strength and you become the best version of whatever you are within that time and you never sit and say ‘Oh no I messed up and I can’t do it.'”

No matter what happens, the Baywatch actress says the most important thing is to keep trying, because there’s no glory in being a quitter. She says she truly believes that whether you succeed or fail in your endeavors depends greatly on just how hard you work toward achieving whatever dreams you may have.

Currently, Chopra is back on the set of Quantico, filming scenes for Season 2 of the ABC series. As Season 1 of Quantico airs in India, Priyanka is busy playing the Quantico action hero, Alex Parrish, once more, which requires her to keep in shape. Having to be agile, quick on her feet, and able to endure intensely physical scenes has been a challenge, but Priyanka credits her Indian genes for giving her a leg up on staying in shape.

“I thank my mom and my dad and my Indian genes for the fact that I don’t necessarily need to train very much,” revealed the Baywatch actress. “I’m very active, I’m very agile by nature and I’ve done action movies, I’m very familiar with it but when it comes to training I’ve only trained in parts.”

Ms. Chopra admits openly that she’s not a big fitness nut. In fact, she would rather avoid the gym altogether, unless fitness training is required for a specific role.

“Like I trained for a boxing movie (Mary Kom) that I did recently, but not really otherwise. Otherwise, I don’t really like gyms. I’m a tough girl but I haven’t needed to exercise,” says Ms. Chopra.

[Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images]