Priyanka Chopra recalls waiting 15 hours on Hollywood set; was ‘dealing with a lot in India’: ‘I was just trying to survive’ | Bollywood News
5 min readChennaiFeb 16, 2026 09:17 AM IST
Priyanka Chopra recently spoke at the annual Harvard India Conference. During the interaction, the Desi Girl spoke about her early days in Hollywood, when she was just starting out after her work in India suffered. She shared how she once waited an entire day for a small scene to be shot on the set of a Hollywood film.
While speaking, Priyanka reflected on the difficult phase she was going through in her career in India at the time and how she encountered those challenges with a determination to “build her legacy.” She said, “I was going through something at that time and I just walked into this interview, just wrong, you know? When your nerve endings hurt, and this was 11-12 whatever many years ago, and I was watching an interview recently, and I heard myself say, ‘I want a legacy. I don’t want a career, I want a legacy.’ And I was thinking about what it meant for me at that time. What did that mean? What did that girl think a legacy would be?”
She added, “What you think your success means at any given time of your life is going to be so different. And that was when I was just starting out in America.”
Priyanka Chopra recalls her Bollywood struggles
Priyanka admitted that she was trying to survive professionally as things were not going well for her in India, which pushed her to focus on making a mark in Hollywood. She said, “I was dealing with a lot when it comes to my work back in India, and I was trying to survive, and I think my goal was, I want another magazine, and that’s the only way I could wake up every morning and go through the small role that I have to do, and a triple banger trailer, which is, 3 actors in one trailer.”
She also shared how she once waited nearly 15 hours on set for her shot, only for it to not be completed that day. “And wait for like 15 hours and not be shot that day. Those are things I hadn’t experienced in my career back home. And I was okay to do it every morning because I was like, I’m going for that long term. I’m going for that legacy,” she said.
Priyanka went on to thank her younger self for her resilience and recalled giving an interview shortly after having a nervous breakdown. She said, “And I’m so grateful for my younger self, as she was brave, and she was strong, and that because of her tenacity, and her ability to put all my tears aside, put on my mascara again, you know, wipe myself up, and go and give that interview 20 minutes later, look pulled together, is the reason I can have a different definition of success today.”
Priyanka Chopra today during India Conference at Harvard ❤️ pic.twitter.com/wCtPvQvxs8
— NP LEGΛCY 🇨🇴 (@np_legacy) February 15, 2026
What success means to Priyanka Chopra
Thanks to the Dostana actor’s hard work, Priyanka has gone on to headline several Hollywood projects. However, after becoming a mother to Malti Marie and a wife to Nick Jonas, she said her definition of success has evolved to prioritising choice, balance, and family time. She said, “My measure of success is being able to spend time with my family, to be able to pick up my daughter from school, to have the luxury to pick and choose work where I can craft time around my family and friends, while I navigate this insane career. And it’s only because of that girl who ran so fast, and so I forgave my younger self, and I do it many times for the things that she did, and the choices that she made, that I don’t agree with, but I’m so grateful to my younger self for bringing me where I am today.”
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Shashi Tharoor catches up with Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka was among several Indian leaders who spoke at the annual gathering. Later, Shashi Tharoor took to X (formerly Twitter) and shared photos with Priyanka from the event, lauding her for making India proud.
He wrote, “Caught up with @priyankachopra (after more than a decade) in the wings at @Harvard backstage, just before her appearance as the closing keynote of the @HarvardIndConf . Remarkable to see (and hear) how well she is doing! She has made India proud by conquering a stage on which Indians rarely get to appear. And of course she looks stunning, appears perfectly poised and sounds thoughtful and wise — what’s not to be proud of?! (That’s my aide Narayan in the second pic, looking pleased as Punch!)”
