A return to the ’70s era

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After delivering a stellar performance in Anurag Basu’s Barfi as a muffled-yet-reactive Jhilmil, Priyanka Chopra now slips into a sari and a strappy choli to portray Nandita, yet another Bengali girl, for Yash Raj Films’ Gunday. Displaying her sexy bare back during the shoot, the sultry-siren upped the glam-quotient in the middle of the crowded streets of Kolkata.
“Bengali girls are so bold and beautiful and I am always elated to play such roles on screen. It is a strange coincidence that I came back to Kolkata so soon for a shoot after Barfi which was entirely based in Bengal,” she shares.
Gunday exposes the underbelly of mafiadom in Kolkata, way back in the 70 and 80s. The film also stars Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor as the leads, playing small-town wagon-breakers in the beginning only to turn into hard-core black-marketeers later.
Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar (of Mere Brother Ki Dulhan fame), Gunday is expected to hit the theatres sometime in the second half of 2013.
It’s not for nothing that the boys call her madam on the sets. “When she walked in on the sets, she blatantly announced with a swagger, listen guys, I am 30 films old,” jests Ali, cracking up Priyanka in the process.
“So there’s a hierarchy reigning on the sets and she sits pretty on the pinnacle,” Ranveer quips.
When asked how does it feel to get sandwiched between the two blokes with hot-bods, the glam-girl immediately shoots back twitching her left eye, “So you want me to tell you the truth? Jokes apart, it was great fun shooting with them, as they are such amazing actors. I have known Arjun for a long time. And Ranveer I came to know only last year.”
Prancing around at all major landmarks of the City of Joy, the Gunday brigade has recently shot a colourful song on the premises of the sacred Dakshineshwar Kali Temple. “We had a ball shooting an ecstatic, rejoicing number at the temple site. And yeah, I had an amazing darshan of the deity, post-shooting,” she says.
Thrilled about her first item song Babli Badmash Hai for the upcoming flick Shootout at Wadala from Ekta Kapoor’s production stable, Piggy Chops confides, “I know what you are hinting at. Yes, I was pretty apprehensive about doing an item number at this stage of my career and that was a conscious decision on my part. But I really wanted to work with Ekta Kapoor, so I grabbed this opportunity with both hands. I admit that I had to come out of my comfort zone to do the job but the effort was worth it.”
Featuring actors John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Tusshar Kapoor, Sonu Sood and Kangna Ranaut in lead roles, Shootout at Wadala is a May release.