After making a mark in Hindi films, Priyanka Chopra has become an international star. Coming from the small town of Bareilly, it wasn’t just the actor who made sacrifices to reach the top, but her family too. In a recent interaction, Priyanka’s mother, Madhu Chopra, opened up about how difficult it was for the family to uproot their lives and move to Mumbai.
Speaking to Debina Bonnerjee on her YouTube show, Madhu said, “It was a big decision for us to relocate for Priyanka to Mumbai. We had to do it one by one, it took time. First, her father came with her and I stayed back and kept working because we had to fund her stay here. Then after my husband got a job at Lilavati Hospital, I came here. You live with dignity when you have your own funding.”
Madhu Chopra, who is a doctor, recalled how she and her late husband Ashok Chopra, also a doctor, left the hospital they had built from scratch in order to help Priyanka Chopra pursue a career in the Hindi film industry. “It was difficult to leave the hospital that we had started on our own and spent 11 years there. We started from scratch and became top doctors in the city. It was difficult to hand over each patient and leave friends and our home. These were all big decisions and Mumbai was like a big sea – if you don’t know how to swim, you will drown.”
She added, “Most parents are like, ‘We will stay at home and you do what you have to do, but we are there for you.’ Other parents are like, ‘We know that hum tumhein bhediyo ke beech bhej rahe hain (we are sending you among wolves), but we are with you.’ And the third type of parents leave everything and become dependent on the child. I don’t agree with the third type.”
Priyanka Chopra with mother Madhu Chopra (Source: Instagram/@priyankacopra)
Madhu Chopra emphasised that they were able to take such a major step because “Priyanka’s career came before everything else.” She also revealed that while they were trying to settle Priyanka and themselves in Mumbai, they had to send their younger child — Priyanka’s brother Siddharth Chopra — to the USA to live with family since they were new in the city.
She shared that Siddharth was sent away because she had to spend most of her time with Priyanka and couldn’t devote attention to him. “There was a condition put by my brother-in-law that I can’t leave Priyanka even for a minute in Mumbai and then only Priyanka can go to Mumbai. I had no choice but to leave my practice and be with her. So Siddharth was neglected initially but he manned up and made it so well in life. He went to college and did everything on his own and wasn’t dependent on us,” she said.
