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00:00When I was younger, it was very romanticized that you're going for it and just keep going and
00:05you know it's like you have to work 24 hours, do four movies in one time, you know five shifts,
00:11don't sleep, don't eat and the more a person does that the more successful you will be.
00:16But as I have seen and lived more life I've realized having a work-life balance is really
00:21important. So when you talk about a beach, I was in Turks and Caicos just recently, my phones were
00:26off me and my husband just by ourselves. We spent time, we walked on the beach, we collected shells
00:31and then I came back feeling rejuvenated, feeling excited and really motivated to take my career
00:38forward. I mean this generation of girls is fearless and there's so many girls that take
00:44charge of their own lives and they say you know I'm not going to fit into the cookie cutter mold
00:49that probably my mother did or my grandmother had to and it's so like I have goosebumps right now
00:55just thinking about it. I meet so many young women who have changed the trajectory of their
01:00families because of the choices that they've made.
01:03Our first episode with Priyanka Chopra was the 13th episode of TRS ever. Now we've crossed 250
01:10episodes on our English podcast. Priyanka Chopra was our lucky charm back then. I think the entire
01:16trajectory, the destiny of the podcast changed and this conversation is an extension, a sequel of
01:23that conversation. Priyanka Chopra has now begun her entrepreneurial journey with her brand Anomaly.
01:30If you enjoyed the episode we did with her last time, you're going to enjoy this one even more
01:34because it's even more raw, it's even more detailed and it's even more motivational. Remember if you're
01:41consuming this on YouTube, now we have subtitles on every episode so hit that CC button and read along
01:48with us and also make sure to follow us on Spotify. We're Spotify exclusive. Every episode's available
01:53on Spotify 48 hours before it's available anywhere else in the world. Priyanka Chopra returns on the
01:59Renbir show in a new avatar, a new flavor. The new TRS is here.
02:06Today on TRS we have one of the most productive human beings that mankind has ever known. Priyanka Chopra.
02:32For an international audience, welcome. For an Indian audience, you're welcome.
02:39You're so excited. We're all Indians. Welcome. Thank you so much, Renbir. Thank you for having me back.
02:47I have so much to say to you, which I'll finally offload now. Please do. I've been waiting for this.
02:51Anticipation has built to high levels.
02:53You and your podcast with us was a turning point in the whole podcast journey.
03:01And fortunately, we had first moves advantage for doing the podcast in India because podcasting
03:06wasn't a culture back then. That's true. I was right at the precipit of it. Yeah.
03:10And whenever someone asked me what my favorite podcast was or my favorite guest was, I say you.
03:15I love being a favorite.
03:16There's a reason for that. Thank you. Okay. Which I've not said online, but I will say,
03:23and I want to say this in front of you. When you're doing podcasts, you really sense the energy of the
03:28guest. Okay. And I've done all sorts of guests like Bollywood, military, you name it. You were the
03:35only person who gave me a very like quiet, calming energy. You sat, you understood. I was like crazy
03:42nervous. You calm me down and you gave me the content that you knew would work for the show.
03:47It was kind of like you were helping a younger version of yourself. Am I calling myself a younger
03:51version of you? I don't know. Maybe. Yeah, for sure. But I totally felt, I felt so much help from
03:56you and you didn't have to, but you were so nice. And it kind of also gave me a reference point
04:02of how to just be as a media professional. Like you're so professional. So thank you so much.
04:07Oh, thank you. That means so much to me. Yeah, it means a lot.
04:10I mean, even I was a newcomer, right? At one point, I also started at something different.
04:15And it's just so nice when someone understands what your goal is. And instead of standing in your way,
04:21helps you, pushes you just a little bit. And, and I kind of maybe sense that feeling from you. And
04:29I always like to, you know, stand and be helpful rather than be a thorn on your side. So I'm glad that
04:37it worked for you. No, you weren't a thorn at all. Should I make it heavy now? Or should I warm you
04:41up a little bit? Whenever you want, buddy, I'm good. I'm really good with heavy lifting. Okay.
04:46Are you happy in life? Um, yeah, actually happier than I've been in a really long time. Okay. Why do
04:52you say that? I think I reached a place where I stopped struggling with the things I did when I
05:00was younger. Maybe it's maturity. Maybe it's, um, being on the other side of 35, I guess. And, um,
05:07maybe it is just having, uh, my feet on the ground and a little bit more stable ground. Um,
05:14but I think I'm not running as fast as I was. I'm thinking about the steps I take. Um, I'm in a
05:21really comfortable, content place when it comes to my life and the choices that I'm making are mine
05:27and are not defined by other people or the validation that I probably needed when I was younger.
05:33So I think that's made me a little bit more happy and calm. Okay. While you say all that,
05:39uh, I feel yours is one of the biggest success stories that India has ever seen. Like very few
05:45Indian actors or anyone from the media industry has reached where you've reached in your life.
05:50Aren't you like done? Like, like, uh, why do you want more? What kind of question is that? I meant,
05:58see, I have this vision for myself that I'm only going to work till about 35, 40.
06:03Because then I just want to chill on a beach. I'm asking you from the beach scenario. Sure.
06:07Uh, don't you, don't you kind of want to go on a beach because every time you take up something new,
06:10there is a trade-off of mental health in the long term, but you're just going for it.
06:14Like you were going for it even during the last conversation and you're going for it now.
06:17So I'm just trying to like explore what's happening and why.
06:20I can help you understand it a little bit. Yeah.
06:22When I was younger, um, it was very romanticized that you're going for it and just keep going. And
06:28you know, it's like you have to work 24 hours, do four movies in one time, you know, five shifts,
06:33don't sleep, don't eat. And the more a person does that, the more successful you will be.
06:39But as I have seen and lived more life, I've realized having a work-life balance is really
06:44important. So when you talk about a beach, I was in Turks and Caicos just recently, my phones were off,
06:49me and my husband, just by ourselves. We spent time, we walked on the beach, we collected shells.
06:55Um, and then I came back feeling rejuvenated, feeling excited and really motivated to take my
07:01career forward. So this romanticization of work has to be tough and work has to be rough and it's not.
07:09Work can be your companion, work can be creative, work can be something that gives you joy.
07:15And now I've reached a point where that work-life balance for me is most important.
07:20I will work on the six verticals that I'm working on, you know, my business, my production, my book,
07:26my acting, whatever. But when I switch off, I'm with my family, I'm at home, I watch movies,
07:33I do whatever I want to do. So then when I come back to work the next day, I have the focus to be able to
07:38do even more things. So when you're talking about retiring at like 35, 40, sure, if you want to have
07:45a shack in Goa, it used to be my dream when I worked like that too. But I want to have a shack in Goa,
07:50not wear shoes, have fish fry all day, you know, and that's what I wanted to do. But as I realized
07:58that there's something, I love my job. And I love being able to create in very different ways.
08:05I have the privilege to be in a position that not many have been in. And I've created that by myself.
08:12I don't want to give it up. And I don't want anyone to take it away from me. It's my legacy
08:16for my children, and for the future generation that may not have even seen the potential of something
08:22like that for themselves. Why would I give it up?
08:24Again, I feel you're helping a younger version of yourself. Sure.
08:28Somewhere in some other universe. I like deep sea diving. Let's go.
08:32Okay. What you want to know about one of my favorite new hobbies? Yeah.
08:36It's watching really old episodes of Coffee with Karan and then seeing how everyone's trajectories
08:41were in life. And my favorite episode, one of my favorites was the one you did,
08:46I think with Arjun Rampal in season one. Oh my gosh. I don't even know what I was,
08:51what was I like then? Very different.
08:56How old must I, when was that season? 2004? Holy wow. Would you like to know? Yeah. As a podcaster.
09:04Yeah. Yeah. I want to know. I can't even, 2004, that means that's one year into me being an actor.
09:10Yeah. I feel you're even different from like three years ago, because lots of happened in those three
09:15years. You're even more chill now. Yeah. Like I can, I can feel that. You were very like hyper kind
09:23of alpha when I last saw you in 2019. And in that episode, you're deeply professional and what's the
09:31word conscientious? You were like that. Like you were just, you're very professional. I think Karan
09:36Johar said, hey, you know, well done and all. And your response was, yeah, I'm just trying to do my best
09:41job guys. It was kind of like that. I was so nervous. I didn't know anything about the industry.
09:46I mean, the closest I had come to being in the business was taking a vacation to Bombay when I was
09:5311 years old with my brother. And it was like, wow, Bombay, you know, that park where they have
09:58the shoe and the hanging garden. Yeah. I had photographs in the hanging gardens even now. And
10:03that was like going to the beach was seeing the queen's necklace. All of that was all I knew about
10:08Mumbai. The industry was terrifying to me. And I think that's probably why I reacted.
10:15It's a great message for young people because lots of people idolize you now because of what you've
10:20done now without understanding that it takes something as simple as that when you're beginning,
10:24just be professional. Or just give yourself a break. It's okay. You just have to do the best you can
10:31survive, keep your head above water, and slowly you'll see you'll be walking on it.
10:35Hmm. When did you realize that you're starting to become successful in life?
10:41Um, it's a really tough question. Because when I won my first pageant, which was Miss India,
10:49I was like, wow, I've won the world. I'm really successful. Then I won this world. I was like,
10:55how did this happen? I had no computation of again, 18, 17, had no understanding how it happened.
11:03But what I did understand was the opportunity it gave me. Suddenly people knew me, wanted to know me,
11:09gave me new opportunities. There were movies that were coming my way. I didn't know anything about
11:14how, how do you sign a movie? My poor father was a physician. He didn't know even more. And he was
11:19like highly protective. They gave up their practice. And for two working doctors who were very successful in
11:26Boreli. And there's something I didn't even think about till I was like 30 years old, gave up
11:31everything to pursue my 19 year old dream. My 19 year old opportunities that even
11:37when someone sees your life, the way you speak about it, there's a lot of blessings at like a
11:42lot of points. Absolutely. You believe in karma? Absolutely. You believe in reincarnation? I do.
11:47Do you think about what you did in your previous life to get this life now? I hope so. I do.
11:51And I always think about it like if you think, why do I have, why am I lucky enough to have the life
11:59that I do? And some other woman, somewhere else, with the same opportunity, with the same desires,
12:06same ambitions, same, you know, needs, doesn't have any of it. I really think about that a lot.
12:14It makes me feel like there must be something I did right. I wake up every day with a sense of
12:18gratitude. And I wake up every day with wanting to give back, whether that's with the person that
12:24is standing right next to me, or whether that is a life choice that I might make. But giving back,
12:31I think, is so crucial when it comes to being grateful. I'm highly grateful for everything that
12:37I have. And I do think that maybe I did something right, that I've been blessed with the opportunity of
12:41having the life, being born to the parents that I was, being able to have the opportunity of making
12:48my own choices, having agency in my own life. If you think about women around the world, so many
12:54don't have that. Complete choices are made for themselves. But my parents told me, you have to
12:59have your opinion. What a privilege. Yeah, that's that's a part of the blessing being born to those
13:06parents. I mean, that's the biggest one, probably. Yeah, completely. Wow. Okay, hold on. I gotta,
13:13I gotta take my thoughts and just put them together. I made you speechless. No, no.
13:19Okay. With this whole journey, and this is a question that's been sent in from a lot of people
13:26who I spoke to before this chat. Firstly, I want to tell you that you inspire men, women,
13:34everyone. It's not about you just inspiring women. Okay. But I think you've shown a lot of women
13:42possibility, like an entire generation needed to be shown possibility, which has happened through
13:46people like yourself, who's supposed to be born exactly in your age bracket to set the tone for
13:51like 80s born, 90s born, 2000s born. I absolutely agree. I was talking to somebody else about this
13:57yesterday, a young actor who was talking to me. And I really did say that my generation of women
14:05changed the trajectory of the next generation of women.
14:09women, my co actors, female co actors, that fought to be the face on the poster that fought for agency
14:16in the movies that a lot of women didn't get before us, just opened the doors for the generation
14:22after us. And I think not just for women, but people, our generation and every generation will
14:28always have a prototype that will be better than us. Because we have changed the landscape, right?
14:34And that's a huge responsibility on all of us. I remember Mary Combe being one of the first female
14:39led films. Now that's so many films that did commercially well. Yeah, at that time. Yeah,
14:44I remember mainstream. Yeah, mainstream. And now there's so many female led films. And that's
14:50the thing like, that's another sorry, not to put you on the spot, but films are films. Yeah. And we
14:56still talk about female led films as female led films. We don't say that's a male led film. This
15:01person's film, Amir Khan's movie. Oh, we're watching a male led film today. I hear you. But I'm also
15:06talking on behalf of the Indian masses completely. But that's as a vocabulary, we need to change that
15:11female athlete, female politician, female actress, why? Actress, politician, athlete. What is your
15:19message? For okay, I'm gonna ask you what's your message generally? And what's your message for girls?
15:25And I'm also going to give you a supplemental point and say that this is not the end of the time.
15:28It's not the end of the podcast, PC. There's so much more to unpack. But I actually do want to ask
15:36you a message for young ambitious women out there. My sister, my girlfriend, my friends,
15:44everyone had this exact question for you that what's the message for the girls who are starting
15:48out their careers? I think it can be very scary. You know, we, I mean, this generation of girls is
15:56fearless. And there's so many girls that take charge of their own lives. And they say, you know,
16:02I'm not going to fit into the cookie cutter mold that probably my mother did, or my grandmother had
16:07to. And it's so like, I have goosebumps right now just thinking about it. I meet so many young women
16:13who have changed the trajectory of their families, because of the choices that they've made.
16:17I think my message would be that there's a lot of noise around us narratives. Yeah. And people that
16:25tell us to be a certain way that people that tell us that, you know, I was talking the other day about
16:31someone that when I went to convent school, I had this thing called moral science, a subject called
16:35moral science, which taught me how, you know, women shouldn't be women should be seen, not heard,
16:42the lengths of our skirts, how we should sit with our legs. There's so much that has been told to
16:47women that to be a good girl, you have to be a certain way. Good girls don't make history.
16:54You know what I mean? Bold girls make history. Bold people make history. So if you want to be
17:01the lead actor of the, of your movie, which is your life, you've got to take choices that might be
17:08contrary to what you've heard. And that empowerment may or may not come from your parents, may or may
17:15not come from your family or boyfriend or whoever you're around. It comes from you. And that no one
17:22can do. You know, I, again, was lucky maybe because my parents gave me that. But I try to remind young
17:29girls specifically that if you don't have that, if you don't have that encouragement in your home,
17:34try to find it in your gut, because no one's going to fix your life but you. Or try to find it from
17:39content. I'm not just speaking on behalf. No, it's true. It is really true. Try to find inspiration
17:43from people that inspire you. I have been inspired every day by collaborators that I work with.
17:50The reason I take new steps is because I see someone else doing something new and I'm like, wow,
17:55this is such a good idea. How did this person do? But I don't just sit with that. I think about
18:00that new idea in my life. What can I do that'll make me feel how I feel about this person? It's about
18:07that feeling. It's about imbibing from the people around you. And it could be someone you admire on
18:13television. It could be someone in your class. It could be someone that you work with. But when you see
18:19something that you admire about someone, imbibe it. All this is exactly why I love that you're
18:27taking up entrepreneurship as your next step, like very actively. You've been an entrepreneur in the
18:31past, but here you're going like all out and saying that, okay, this is like the next big step.
18:38I also feel that people my age, but actually younger than me, Gen Z, deeply entrepreneurial.
18:45Everyone wants to start like their businesses. And I'm sure you see this difference between like
18:5080s and 90s born people and then the next one. How did this entrepreneurship thing start PC?
18:57Like where did it start and how, how far do you want to take it?
19:00I don't know. I don't think about the future. I'm not someone who I plan for the future, but I don't
19:06think about how far I can go. I mean, who knows what my future holds for me, but what I can think
19:11about is my present. And like I said, I like to imbibe from people that I know.
19:16You know, your future is so bright that there's conspiracy theories about you that you've made
19:21deals with the devil to achieve this level of success. That you're a satanic worshiper.
19:27It's that level of success that you reach.
19:28Horshid you? You're very upset with me.
19:31Sorry, but go on, go on.
19:35No, I just think that, like I told you, I like to imbibe from the people around me.
19:39When I was becoming an actor, I didn't know anything about acting. So I used to sit and
19:43watch my co-actors. I used to sit and watch why they did what they did. So this came from a really
19:50funny thought. My mom, as soon as I turned 30, she's an entrepreneur. She's a doctor. She created
19:57her own business. But when, as soon as I turned 30, she sat me down and she said, look, you're in
20:03Bollywood. Your shelf life is over. You know, nobody, all these 50 year old actors only want to work with
20:08the girls in their 20s. So after 30, you're not going to have a job very much. You know, just like
20:12you have to start planning for your future. So what about making your own movies? You know, starting
20:18production. And that, at that time is really funny considering I'm 40 and I'm still have a very active
20:23acting career. But it was foresight on her end in an industry which kind of told women that, that,
20:30you know, when you're 30, sorry, you're too old. So I started getting interested in production,
20:35just thinking about the fact that I was going to lose my day job. And then that became really
20:41interesting to me. The business of entertainment started becoming really interesting to me. I used
20:46to talk a lot to my producer friends, producers that I was working with. What are the choices they
20:51make? How are movies made? So you have a cost of production. You have to recover your cost of
20:56production to make profit. So I started getting into what margins look like and just understanding that.
21:02And that was fascinating to me because it's so creative. There are so many ways to be able to
21:09create something. And I think once I started doing production and I started working in America,
21:15I knew my manager happened to be a venture capitalist and she was really into tech and stuff. So I was very
21:23interested in, and at that time she was just a collaborator, but I really got interested in
21:27investments. And I started with small investments in little things. And then those things became
21:34really big like Bumble. So when I brought Bumble into India, I mean, Bumble changed the dating scene
21:39in India, especially for girls. And, and that just showed me the power of being able to have a new idea.
21:46And the idea at that time was when Bumble was launched around the world and Whitney, who's a dear
21:50friend of mine and launched it, she left Tinder to make Bumble because she saw the gap in the market.
21:57That, you know, we want to be able to create a safe space where women have the first opportunity,
22:02where women can take the first step. And that was such a brilliant plan. And what I said to her was,
22:08India needs it the most, because of especially the unsafe circumstances within which girls have to
22:14survive and live in sometimes in India. And it's being used in tier three, tier four.
22:18Absolutely. How beautiful is that? Like, again, I have goosebumps just thinking about the fact that
22:23this came from an idea. So ideas are what was really interesting to me. And then being able to work
22:29with people who can help me execute ideas is what really started the entrepreneur journey in me.
22:36First, I started with investments and Anomaly is my first brand that I founded myself
22:41with the help of Mesa. Thank you. With the help of Mesa, who are market leaders and leaders in
22:48incubating new brands, specifically in beauty. And then Naika, of course, bringing them. But I really
22:54lean on my partners to learn from them. And I just love the fact that you can have an idea today
23:00and monetize it. Why not? You're not just reduced to, I won't say reduced to, because I come from a
23:07family of doctors and engineers. But at that time, in my parents' generation and the generation before
23:13that, it was doctor, engineer, lawyer, military, government job. Like those five or six things
23:18that everyone had to aim for. But today, like, I think my generation of parents are not going to
23:25have those boxes for our children, right? You have an idea, let's run with it.
23:29I have this little crystal ball with me everywhere that I go, that only I can see. And it shows me
23:35the future. I think you're going to be a multi-billionaire.
23:39From your mouth to God's ears, please.
23:42Remember the moment we had before the shoot began? I said, I don't want to talk to you until
23:45the camera started rolling and the lights went off. A crystal ball. But I also, I also generally
23:51want to talk about that crystal ball a little bit. And what it tells me,
23:55everyone knows that going to America was very good for the career, the material aspect of life.
24:02I feel it helped you a lot as a person as well. America does have this very different
24:08entrepreneurial energy. It's got like this little like accepting energy, as long as you're willing to
24:13work hard, the country just accepts you, you'll be able to create further opportunity yourself.
24:18But now I will let you unpack. I just I feel I feel it's been great for you. And
24:22the harsh truth, I'm going to say it online, is that India finds things cooler when they become
24:29cool abroad and then come back. I mean, that's a fact.
24:32Like Swami Vivekanand is used as one example. That's our that's our colonial background.
24:37We still haven't been able to shed that, you know, we have a lot of equity on
24:44on things that come from the West. That I agree is a fact. But no, it's not it's not the easiest thing to be
24:54an Indian in America. Yeah, it's not easy.
24:57Even Priyanka Chopra said that, felt that?
25:00I mean, yes, I've had a, I started working in the States in 2010. And in 2020, after 10 years of
25:11working in the industry, I started with music, and then pivoted into acting in America. So started in
25:182010, for context, in 2020, I got my first leading role. How long did it take me? 10 years.
25:25So people don't think about how much hard work, how much consistent knocking on doors, how much
25:34humility it takes to go to another country and start from scratch. I had built an incredible career
25:41here, amazing credibility here. And I got an opportunity to do music. And people were curious
25:50about the fact that, because I could sing, what that could be. And I'm a big fan of the music
25:55industry anyway. We, in India, are monopolized by Bollywood when it comes to music so much.
26:01For now.
26:02I hope so. I hope so. That we've not really been able to bifurcate into pop, you know,
26:06pop music or pop culture when it comes to music. It's still very niche. So I was really a big fan of
26:12like music and musicians and very excited about that opportunity. Went there, worked with the most
26:18incredible musicians and quickly realized that I'm not as good as them, you know, and I should go back
26:24to my day job. I don't like, I'm very astute when it comes to, I don't lie to myself. I'm very honest
26:31to myself. So I did the music. I love the music that I did for myself, but it wasn't
26:36my standard of excellence. It was good. It was fun. Played on the radio, it was successful,
26:41sold a lot of CDs, but it wasn't my lane. And that made me want to dabble in acting as well
26:50and see if there was an opportunity there. But it required me to strip every single thing that I knew
26:56in India and the laurels that I had achieved in India, the awards that I had won, the movies that
27:03I had done, the box office successes that I had seen. It required me to walk into rooms with extreme
27:08humility and introduce myself to people, to take my show reel and say, this is the work I have done.
27:15I would love to work with you. I would love to see if there's an opportunity with you.
27:20I remember I had to do, I mean, I've done so many small roles in big movies in Hollywood,
27:26but that's what it took for me when I started here too. A lot of people used to say to me, oh,
27:31she's left doing Bollywood movies to do small roles in Hollywood. It started with every new actor starts
27:38there. You have to start with from the beginning. And I don't sit with that.
27:45You know, if you're, if I'm successful in one country, everyone in the world should treat me
27:49like I'm a queen. It doesn't work that way. So I'm just the case for a lot of big stars.
27:55Most people, I don't know about that, but most people expect and anticipate that if you are treated a
28:02certain way, or if you're making a certain amount of money in a certain country, you're going to be
28:08treated the same way because everyone is waiting in Hollywood to cast you, right? They're just waiting
28:13for Priyanka Chopra. We were just waiting for you to come only, Priyanka. Change the trajectory of movies.
28:18Of course, Hollywood is not the same without you. It doesn't work that way. You have to go, you have to
28:23pound the pavement, you have to walk in, you have to be rejected, you have to audition, and you have
28:29to work around the culture of a new country. And that was so hard. I had to swallow the humility pill,
28:35and I was willing to do that hard work. And then, 10 years later, I finally got my leading role in a
28:42movie. I finally got the same remuneration as a man, which I never did in Bollywood. I have never got the
28:48same check as my male co-actor, even if my part is the same, even if I've held the movie as much
28:55as I can. Finally, I got it in 2021, after 21 years of working. So, it seems like, oh my gosh,
29:05America was so great for you, and Hollywood was awesome. But the tears that it took when you move
29:11to a new country with no friends, no family, working with people that don't know you, and don't know
29:17what you are able to achieve. When I first started doing Quantico, my co-actors did not understand the
29:23hoopla around me. They were like, who is this person? That was the first time I got a lead
29:32role in a television series. And they just couldn't understand why. And it required me to just
29:39be humble and say, I'm okay, this is a new environment. It's easy to go fishing from your
29:46boat. But when you have to go deep sea diving, it's a completely different thing. So, you have to
29:50learn according to your environment. So, no, it wasn't easy. It was very hard. It took a lot of
29:55sweat, tears, and blood from me to finally be able to reach where I have reached. So, when you say,
30:01you know, I don't want to pass off the work that it took to get there and the time and the commitment
30:08that it took to get there.
30:09But look at you now.
30:11Look at me now. I'm still at the beginning. That's what I'm saying. It's the first movie
30:15that I'm doing as a lead part. Who knows where else I'll go.
30:18Again, the mainstream narrative though on you is that things have just gone upwards. I love that
30:23you're saying this.
30:24Because I'm not someone who talks about my struggles too much.
30:29Why don't we talk about your struggles a little?
30:31That's it. You have to ask me the questions.
30:34Did people try jeopardizing your career here, there, at any point? Because that's
30:40the one thing I'm slowly learning about success. Like the moment you start climbing that ladder,
30:43there's too many people who don't like that you're climbing the ladder and try pulling you down.
30:49I don't know. Unfortunately, I feel like
30:53in India, we've been taught that mindset. We are not people as a people.
30:58Very few of us are happy for somebody else's success. Because we, again, I think my hypothesis,
31:08and I don't know, I'm not someone who's an expert on the field. But my hypothesis is that, you know,
31:13we were colonized in 1947. I agree. We just about not even been 100 years. We've just about been our
31:21own country, our own people. It's divide and rule, but on an emotional level. Exactly. And our generation
31:27has to recognize that. Our generation has to say, hold on, hold on. Why is my natural instinct,
31:33when someone is successful, is to be jealous? Why is my natural instinct, when someone is successful,
31:39to be envious? Why is my natural instinct not saying, wow, you've done so great. Let me add on to this
31:46person. Let me push you forward, because then you're pulling me forward. There is such a strength in
31:53numbers, which we don't recognize. If we only collectively banded together, and supported
32:00other successful people in our fields, we would be unstoppable in the world. We are one-fifth of
32:05the world's population. But we've never been able to take our own stand because of that reason.
32:11I feel this is something we can learn from the West.
32:13They cheer each other more than what we do. Probably. Probably. I don't know about
32:18where that learning comes from. But I just, just like you, I've also had people wanting to jeopardize
32:23my career. Like what used to happen? I don't know, take away from work, make sure that I wasn't cast,
32:29just because, you know, I was doing well in what I was doing. But that's not what's taught. I don't sit
32:33and wait and harp on. I mean, maybe I'll cry one night or the other when an opportunity was taken
32:39away from me. But I don't sit in the shit. You know, you can sit in the shit and then you'll start
32:44smelling of it. And then you don't even know you're smelling of it because you've got so used to it.
32:49So then you just become dark and negative and you'll never move forward. You have to shut off
32:53the noise. There are many people that will want to pull you down, but don't focus on that. Focus on
32:58the one person that believes in you. Focus on the light, little sliver of light that you might see,
33:03a little bit of inspiration that you might see. And that's the hardest thing to do because you're
33:08bogged down by baggage. You're bogged down by shackles of people holding you down.
33:13So you have to really push forward. And that's just individual. Do you have that inside of you
33:18to fight that fight for yourself? Or are you going to wait for somebody else to do it?
33:23That's an individual choice. Let's talk about that little sliver of light.
33:28I don't know how else to put this, but is that God for you? Is that the higher power?
33:32I mean, a lot of it is. I really do believe in destiny. I believe in I'm someone who has a lot of
33:40faith. I pray a lot. What do you how do you pray and what do you pray for?
33:46I do puja almost every day. I do gratitude.
33:50What's your interaction with the higher power?
33:52Thank you. And it starts with thank you. It starts with thank you for my health.
33:57Thank you for my life. Thank you for my family. Thank you for my life, lifestyle.
34:02Thank you for my ability to be a nice human being, to be a grateful person.
34:10And then I'll ask for a few things.
34:12What are you asking for now, PC? Manifest it.
34:18I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't think that I believe. Listen, a lot of people believe in
34:23the secret and the vision board and all of that. But it's not something that ever worked for me.
34:27I tried it. I had a vision board. I put shit up on it. And I was like, okay, this is what I want
34:33to achieve. But I didn't focus enough on it for it to work. For me, what has always worked is
34:38having the small next dream, you know, the next step. So that you always have to take a step up
34:46in the ladder to be able to get to the top. You can't get to the top by flying up. Human beings
34:51don't fly. It's a way of saying manifest something achievable. Yes. And then slowly you'll turn around
34:56and you say, oh, whoa, look at this legacy I've created. But if you have unachievable dreams,
35:02something that seems too out of the ordinary, then you're waiting for a miracle. And miracles,
35:08don't happen very often. You have to create it for yourself. So what's the next step in your big
35:13dream? So if you want to buy a car, say, for example, you have to figure out how much it's for.
35:18So if you don't want to buy 100 rupees, you have to make that 100 rupees. So you have to work
35:23backwards from your goal. So if my goal is one thing, I'll work backwards. And what is the first step
35:28in that goal? I'll take that. Then the next step in that goal and slowly you'll buy your car.
35:32What would you like to change about this whole journey till this point? Is there anything you'd like to do
35:36differently? Yeah, I'd like to tell my younger self not to have stressed out so much. I used to
35:43have a lot of anxiety around losing my job, losing my position.
35:47Losing time. Because that's a very, very common thing now with teenagers with college. Everyone's
35:54afraid that they're getting too old when they're 18.
35:56I mean, I'm not afraid at 40 of getting too old yet. Yeah, well, that's your glass ceiling for you
36:04right there. What do you mean? I mean, you're telling yourself you're too old at 18. It's like
36:10everyone's aging. That's the one thing as a fact we know birth and death. That's going to happen to all of
36:15us. You have to age. Like that's something to really come to terms with early on in your life.
36:22I feel aging feels really nice. Like it makes you feel very chill.
36:25It's normal. Why are we putting so much equity on aging? That's the one thing we know that is going
36:31to happen. What is the stress around it? You're gonna get older. I mean, yeah, I feel like I did when
36:38I was still 18. But like, I'm going to get older. And who am I right now at this age is what's
36:43important. What is my best opportunity at 18, at 25, at 35, at 60? Who is it that you want to be?
36:51I was just doing an interview with a Fall Green Iron. She started and started Naika at 50.
36:57Like that was her idea. And she built it into an empire today. So aging nothing but a number.
37:02That's a real, real fact. We put too much equity on age. It just doesn't matter.
37:08What matters is what you do about your life in the moment right now.
37:11Yeah, it's also the people around other people telling them that they're getting too old.
37:15So then don't keep those people around you. Break up with them. Bye. Peace out.
37:19Keep the people around you that are your champions. And maybe this is also something I realize when
37:25I'm older, but I tell young people this all the time. Do not hang around with poisonous people.
37:30Do not keep people around you that are toxic, that mess with your brain. Keep people around you that
37:35are genuinely happy for you. Only people that are genuinely happy for you. And if that's two people,
37:42you're a rich person. Yeah. Meeting you was a very big turning point for me. I mean, I'm saying that
37:47again. In what way? Just saw what you are in truth, you know, in reality, who you are. Right. So many
37:53people put on masks on the show, even today. I've done show you are 12th episode. I've done 400 now.
37:59Wow. And we still have lots of people putting on mass and you're just the same person. You're very
38:04real, very professional, very, very polite. I can sense it. People can sense the kindness. And that's
38:09the joy of podcasting that you really get to know who the other person is over a long, nice conversation
38:15like this. But it's not easy to be a public person. Like, you know, we, we talk a lot about and we
38:23point a lot of fingers at celebrities and public people. It's a really hard job. It is so hard to
38:32be dinner table conversation every single day. It is so hard to walk into a room and know that
38:37somebody is going to be talking about me when I leave. Good, bad, ugly, not my control. It is so hard to
38:43wake up every morning and know that I'm for public consumption. And my, it can be an opinion that is
38:49completely the opposite of who I am. People could think I'm unlikable. People could say that I'm
38:54a horrible person. People could say I'm unprofessional. That's not my truth, but I can't
38:59change that opinion. So if I sit and read every comment or every, you know, negative thing on social
39:05media or keep wondering about the paranoia when I walk out of a room, what is someone saying? Oh my
39:10god, I'll never be able to achieve anything. But it's so hard. Cut people a break. Cut public
39:16people. Everyone aspires to be a celebrity. Everyone is like, oh, I want to be famous and
39:20I want to be in that position. But nobody sees how hard it is. Like it is so hard when you are going
39:26to a shadi. Suppose your family is a shadi and everyone is talking about you and pointing fingers at you.
39:30Can you imagine how you'll feel? Do you still go for family functions and all that? Can you? Can you?
39:35Because of the same fame angle. Means? You've reached like this level of fame. I can't imagine.
39:42So you're saying I'm not going to dance on the barat of my brother's wedding? Maybe.
39:45No brother. Of course. My cousins, my brothers. Family is most important to me. My fame is a
39:52byproduct of my job. It does not define me. My fame is not my job. It's very clear to me.
39:58I'm not famous for a living. I work for a living. And fame comes with it. So it's not something I can
40:06control. That's something that's thrust upon me. The reason I'm asking you such like incisive
40:11questions is again, I'm trying to learn like you're setting the bar for the media professionals. And
40:17that's what I meant the last time as well. I realized that this is what it takes. You know,
40:21this kind of professionalism is this kind of energy. So don't get me wrong.
40:25I'm not getting me wrong at all. I'm just trying to elaborate on something that people don't really
40:30think about sometimes, you know, public people, even though you're seeing a celebrity or someone
40:37every day on like billboards or, or magazines, there's still a human being behind them. They also
40:44like to eat paratha and achar. They also like to sit in a, like we also like to sit in a palti and dance
40:49at the baratha of your cousin and make sure that you get, you know, great food. The desires of a
40:55human being is the same. The needs, or at least the people that I know, I keep my friends, my family,
41:02I'm a very grounded person, I come from the ground, and I'm going to stay there. And the day I behaved a
41:08certain way, my mom would put a tappli on my head and say, come back to earth, buddy.
41:12Does it happen now? Because I don't need it. I don't come from a place of arrogance. Okay,
41:17gotcha. I never did. I mean, I may have had a little bit of that when I was in my early 20s,
41:22where I was like, wow, famous, everyone knows me. And then quickly, I realized when six of my films
41:27flopped that it doesn't last buddy, you have to consistently keep working. So I never rest,
41:32rest on my laurels. That's the, that's, that's your downfall right there.
41:37All right. Too much to absorb here. I do have one final question.
41:42Too much gyan. You always make me give gyan.
41:44This is great. That's how we get the views.
41:49Thanks for the views PC. So anyway, views are like drugs for YouTubers, but
41:55True. Okay. So here's my honest question in terms of success. I genuinely mean it when I say that,
42:06like, in the modern day, you're one of the most successful human beings on this planet.
42:12After seeing so much success, what have you understood about the meaning of life?
42:17What has life become after this? Like, why do you have to keep going? Why can't we all just
42:24go to beaches or meditate or become monks? You can. Okay, what's your meaning of life?
42:29I think the meaning of life is having purpose. We're born and we'll die. What you do in between
42:37that is your legacy. And if your legacy is, you know, walking with sand between your toes and living in
42:47a shack and, and being happy and meditating, sure, it's an individual choice. Success is very subjective.
42:54To each person is their own. My success might be completely not attractive to somebody else's
42:59success. You know, so the equity that we put on, you know, you're the most successful,
43:04one of the most successful people on the planet, whatever. Great. That's my version of it.
43:07Um, you know, but somebody else's version of it could be completely different, but I really believe
43:12that what your purpose in life and what you do between birth and death is, is what counts.
43:21So the pursuit of anything else is just futile. The pursuit should be, what am I doing in my life?
43:27What do I want to do in my life? Who do I want to be? Who do I want to touch? What do I want to create?
43:33Do I want to create? Or maybe I don't want to create. And all of it is fine, as long as you're at peace
43:38with the choices you make. So make choices that make you feel peaceful. Gotcha. All right.
43:45PC, another epic episode. Any signing off notes? Um, well, the only thing I'll say is the one thing
43:53you didn't talk about was I'm very excited about, um, the multiple things that I do, but the one thing
44:00I'm really, and the reason that I, I've come back and I really wanted to come back to Bombay, but
44:06launching Anomaly in India really helped me, um, you know, have a reason to come back right now.
44:12Because now I don't have a home in Bombay.
44:14You always have a home in Bombay. Yes, that is true. Bombay is my home.
44:17It's my entire Mumbai. But you know, like becoming a founder was terrifying because that's not what I do.
44:25It's not something I knew. Um, but creating hair care, understanding why do I want to get into beauty,
44:32makeup, skin, which one should I do? What is the gap that learning of creating a brand,
44:39which I'm so proud of and not for the fact that, oh, I've created a beauty product, but the fact that
44:45I found a white space, which I could create a product that you would have spent five times more
44:52money to buy and Indian, uh, the Indian new consumer is very aspirational. You know,
44:58we want to take care of ourselves. We want to look our best. We want to get the best brands in the world.
45:03We're aware, um, especially that Gen Z that you're talking about, but we're also aware about what we're
45:09putting in our systems. We want to eat good. We want to try good stuff. So I'm very proud of Anomaly
45:15because it hits that trifecta. It's sustainable. We make all our packaging from a hundred percent
45:21recycled trash from ocean bound plastic to landfills. So we pick up trash and we create these bottles.
45:28And because we're making our bottles from plastic trash, we didn't spend too much on it. That gave us
45:34more of a budget to have really excellent formulas. And when you use it, you will know. Please keep a bag
45:39for Ranveer. Um, looking forward. We'll be bathing in some Anomaly tonight. Yeah, you will. Um, and
45:46another thing is that marketing has always told us men's hair care needs and women's hair care needs
45:51are different. Hair is made of the same stuff. Don't fall for this marketing thing. Anomaly is for
45:57anyone who has hair on the head. Um, please use, um, and also the fact that it is clean. It has none of the
46:05bad stuff that usually form, um, formulas and shampoos do. If you read the ingredients
46:10of any shampoos, you'll see things like sulfate, silicones, like that stuff should not exist in your
46:15shampoo. Mineral oil exists in shampoos. Mineral oil goes into your car. Why is it on your head?
46:23Can you imagine what it is doing to your scalp and your system? It's crazy. But to be able to create
46:28something which is clean, affordable, sustainable, and excellent at the same time is something I was
46:33really, really proud of. And, um, when we brought it to Nika, we, on the first day sold one Anomaly
46:41product every seven seconds. And that just was amazing to me. And then we had repeat customers.
46:49And in the last three months where the top 10 hair care brands on Nika, and they have like some 400,
46:55500 hair care brands. So it just makes you feel really proud of the fact that you've made something
47:00good. And whenever you make a good movie, it's the same feeling. Or when you, I'm sure you,
47:05when you have a good podcast, like, yeah, like this one, hopefully like, yeah, man, I did something
47:11good. So it's a really good feeling. Yeah. Priyanka Chopra sharing her blessings with the world.
47:16That's all I'll say. I'll say one more thing though. Uh, I think it's just the beginning of your business
47:20career and you're gonna like really flourish. That same energy is going to enter this and it's my
47:26crystal ball. And it's telling me the truth. It's telling me the truth. Uh, you're one of those
47:31people who just touches something and it turns to gold. No, it doesn't just turn to gold. In the
47:36long term PC. You have to work towards making it gold. That's your perfectionism. No, it's not.
47:41It's just the truth. You cannot touch something. Only Midas could do that. You cannot pick up something
47:47and say, Oh, it's going to be great. It took a year and a half of research of trying anomaly on
47:53my friends, my family, my team. They were all my lab rats sitting and thinking about what the font
47:59should be, where the rose gold should be. Should the trash be upfront? What the, um, smell of it should
48:05be. All of that takes work. You just see the end of it and you say, it's gold. It's gold because of
48:10the work that's gone into it. Yeah. I meant that you're a manufacturer of gold and you said you believe
48:16in reincarnation. So what if the modern day Midas is like reborn as Priyanka Chopra?
48:21Oh boy. What a thought. I wish I had a collection of real gold, buddy. I'd be so rich.
48:28I think you do. It's just not the gold that the world recognizes as gold. It's all the blessings
48:33that are with you, the blessings that you spread. Priyanka Chopra, thank you for blessing TRS again.
48:38Thank you so much. The last time was a turning point. This time it's going to be a rocket. I know it.
48:43So, uh, I'm saying this extremely humbly, but you're a good luck charm. Trust me.
48:47Thank you. I hope so. Especially for our team. But generally, I wish you so much luck and love.
48:52And I, I know that, you know, you've expanded and done so well so far. And I hope your trajectory
48:58is always just up. Thank you. One day I will repay you. I don't know how, but I will. It means a lot.
49:04Thank you so much. Thank you, PC. Of course. So right after this episode, I felt extremely enriched
49:10with information. I felt motivated and I felt sure that the podcast is going to take off once again
49:16because of all that good luck that rubbed off on us. My hope and request to Priyanka Chopra is that
49:22he visits us in our home studio because this room and this studio brings out the best from guests.
49:29Sometimes we're limited on set because of multiple reasons. Mostly it's time constraints,
49:35but I feel that the culture of podcasting is improving a lot in India. I remember when we
49:40had done our first episode with her, India didn't even know what podcasts were. Honestly,
49:44I didn't know how to podcast. If you go and actually listen to that particular episode,
49:50you'll be able to tell how far we've come. I actually hold a sheet full of questions back then.
49:55That's how early we began this journey. And now we're almost 400 episodes in with a Hindi
50:02language podcast as well. Hoping to have Priyanka Chopra on that one. Also hoping to have her on the
50:09English podcast once again, and here's wishing her all the best for her entrepreneurial journey
50:14with anomaly. Make sure you check out the products. We've linked them down below and also make sure to
50:19follow us on Spotify, Spotify exclusive. Every episode is available on Spotify, 48 hours before it's
50:24available anywhere else in the world. DRS will return soon with even more fantastic guests and even
50:31more heartfelt conversation. Jai Hind!
50:54I'll see you next time.
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