In the new romantic comedy, What’s Your Raashee?, international superstar Priyanka Chopra takes on perhaps her greatest challenge yet — playing 12 different roles.
“This was hugely challenging,” admitted the Bollywood star during a recent interview in Toronto. “More so because my director was very sure of the fact that he didn’t want any outside aid in terms of prosthetics or in terms of special effects to make the girls look different … he wanted it to be their characteristics, their body language — they way they talked, behaved — to make them different which was a huge, huge challenge for me as an actor.”
What’s been described as an “epic romantic comedy”, the film (which opens in theatres this Friday), features Chopra as all twelve potential brides of a young man who struggles with his family’s insistence he get married. Portraying the women — each born under a different astrological sign (raashee) — Chopra had to play everything from a serious, career-oriented third world nurse to a 15-year-old teenager.
“It’s easier playing an older character because we’re always growing. You kind of know it projectory-wise,” said Chopra. “But to play a younger character is very, very difficult and again, to make her real.
“Its fun watching people’s reactions to the 15-year-old (character) but the funnest was the first girl (who appears in the movie) because she’s a gawky kind of girl who’s pretending to be really cool and she’s probably never even worn a skirt in her life before.”
Pulling off the 12 characters in What’s Your Raashee? was certainly not the first big challenge for Chopra.
Having launched her career by winning the crown of Miss World in 2000, the stunning actress has since become a huge movie star in her native India. Now, with What’s Your Raashee? making its debut in North America, she’s proud to give western audiences a taste of Bollywood. So what’s the one thing potential moviegoers should know about Bollywood films?
“The length,” laughed Chopra, hinting that audiences should take note of the film’s 192-minute stretch. “We make long movies.”
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