Meera Chopra, who gained success in Tamil and Telugu cinema, confronted vital challenges transitioning to Bollywood. Regardless of being the second cousin of Priyanka Chopra and Parineeti Chopra, Meera considers herself an outsider within the Hindi movie business. She not too long ago opened up about her struggles breaking into Bollywood and the influence of nepotism.
Chatting with Hitflik, Meera mentioned her bond with Priyanka, sharing, “Our fathers are first cousins. We had been a really close-knit household after we had been younger. Very center class. Once we had been small, no one actually thought that we’ll get into the glamour area. When Priyanka made her breakthrough, she paved the best way for us all. In any other case, I really feel, again then, the center class by no means thought-about cinema as career. Individuals didn’t assume past docs and engineers.”
Meera, who debuted within the 2005 Tamil movie Anbe Aaruyire, acknowledged her profitable South Indian movie profession, regardless of preliminary hesitation. “Within the South, I by no means went out and appeared for work. I used to be not even within the South as a result of I’m a really North Indian Punjabi woman. The language was at all times a difficulty for me. Each film I did there, I advised myself, ‘This will probably be my final movie’. But, I ended up doing about 25 movies. It was as a result of they had been providing me work and the cash they gave was so tempting,” she recalled.
Nevertheless, Bollywood proved to be more difficult. “I’ve heard tales of people that have been dying to work down South assembly the mistaken folks. I by no means confronted that; in actual fact, I confronted this in Bollywood. Right here, I used to be going out and in search of work. I by no means obtained work served on a platter,” Meera stated, highlighting her struggles with networking in a close-knit business the place connections are key.
She added, “It’s a little bit scary to start out with. It’s a really close-knit business. Lots of people don’t know what goes inside. No person is aware of the place to start out. After I got here right here, I didn’t know if I want to fulfill a sure director, and the way I have to go about it. No person shares their numbers, and even when they do, the individual by no means replies to your messages.”
Coming from a profitable South Indian profession, Meera needed to let go of her ego and begin contemporary in Bollywood. “I got here from a really profitable profession, and I had the arrogance that I will make it. Once you come from a profitable profession in a single business, it turns into tough to start out from scratch in one other.”
She additionally mirrored on how necessary networking is in Bollywood, one thing she initially neglected. “At first, I used to be advised, ‘You must community, you need to go to events, you need to make your personal connections’, which now I do know is essential as a result of this business is sort of a cult. There are a lot of totally different cults on this business, and you need to be part of one group so that you just maintain getting work from that group. It nonetheless occurs that manner. On this business, you get work in case you are associates with the precise folks. It’s a lot simpler. To show your price takes for much longer time and battle.”
Meera, who misplaced a number of roles to star children, shared her frustration with the business’s favoritism. “I might have finished over 20 movies even when I didn’t have the expertise,” she stated. “Plenty of instances, I’ve given auditions for a number of roles, which I don’t give anymore as a result of I’ve misplaced religion in it. It occurs that you just audition for a job, and a month later you’re knowledgeable the function has gone to any person who belongs to the business. It has develop into a rampant follow.”
Concluding her ideas, Meera commented on the present state of Bollywood, saying, “Proper now, the business is flooded with star children, and sorry to say, they’re very common. Besides Alia (Bhatt), I don’t see anyone having the calibre to do the form of work they’re doing. They’re getting work solely as a result of they’re born and raised on this business. Will anyone guess on an outsider after 4 flops? No.”