Unfinished:
A Memoir (Penguin Random House, Pages 256, Rs 699) is a book I would
not have ordinarily read, let alone bought. When the author became Miss
India and, later, Miss World, I wondered what trick she did to get the
coveted honour.
Beauty could not have, for I thought there were better beauties in the college I studied.
In
my estimation, she came nowhere near the Vasantkunj girl, Sushmita Sen,
or the girl from Mangalore, Aishwarya Rai, or the all-time great from
Goa, Reita Faria. I was also not impressed by her acting in the few
movies I watched.
To me, she was an average girl with average
beauty and average talent who was destined to fade out as quickly as she
startled the world by her crowning victory in 2000.
I know it is not fair to make such harsh comments on a highly-successful person who is today my own hero too!
Why
I chose to read the book is, however, a coincidence. Less than a
fortnight ago, I read my friend and New Yorker Korason Varghese’s book
of essays, Valkannadi (Handheld Mirror).
There is a chapter in
the book on how a petty-minded church in Kerala refused burial to
Priyanka Chopra’s maternal grandmother in the church cemetery because
she had ceased to be a subscription-paying church member many decades
ago. That is since she married a North Indian and settled down at
Jamshedpur, then, in Bihar and, now, in Jharkhand.
I felt bad
when I read it, just as I felt bad when my friend Thampy Kakkanadan was
not allowed to be buried in the cemetery by my own church. I wished the
churches were more large-hearted and generous!
It was news to me
that a portion of the blood that flowed in Priyanka Chopra’s body was
Syrian Christian. She was, otherwise, a blue-blooded Punjabi. By the
way, my wife knew about her Kerala connection. I did not know it, may be
because she was never on my radar.
Around that time, I read a
review of her autobiography 'Unfinished' and saw the movie 'The White
Tiger' in which she played a significant role. I did not think twice
before buying the book and reading it. Let me admit in the beginning
itself, that I enjoyed reading the book.
If someone were to ask
me who the greatest characters in the book were, I would unabashedly say
that it was her parents. Her father was a Major in the Army on the
medical side and he got her mother enlisted in the Army as a Captain
soon after their marriage. They had confidence in her and they brought
her up in such a way that success was hers right from the word go.
When
the couple made a nameplate for the Army house they lived in, Priyanka
asked them why the names were displayed. Their answer was, “Because we
live here”. It evoked a question from her, “Do I not live here?” The
parents were thoughtful enough to include her name in the board: “Miss
Priyanka Mimi Chopra, Upper KG”! She was a kindergarten student at that
time.
The parents invested heavily in her, letting her study in
Army Public School, Bareilly, La Martiniere in Lucknow and a school in
the US. In the process, she gained confidence that allowed her to wade
through competitions.
One thing must be said to her credit — she
is as frank as an autobiographer could be. No, there is no
kiss-and-tell in her story.
Of course, there is a hilarious
description of a handsome American boy whom she tried to hide in her
dressing room when her relative suddenly returned home. The cologne he
wore was a giveaway for the relative who forced her to open the room.
Their furtive affair continued till she learnt that he began dating her
best friend!
In the final round for the Miss World title, she was
asked to answer the question, “Who do you think is the most successful
woman living today and why?” Having studied in Catholic Church-run
schools, she answered quite naturally: “There are a lot of people I
admire, but one of the most admirable people is Mother Teresa. I admire
her from the bottom of my heart for being so considerate, compassionate
and kind, giving up her life for people in India”.
Little did
Priyanka know that I had written Mother Teresa’s obituary in the Indian
Express three years earlier. She was alerted by the Miss World
management that she might be asked about her faux pas at the customary
Press conference in London soon after the crowning ceremony.
She
was ready with her answer that the Mother might have died but she lived
in her heart as in the hearts of millions of people. Probably, no one
embarrassed her.
Those who had seen videos of the ceremony would
have noticed that she was so humble that she stood with her hands closed
Namastaying to the whole world.
Actually, the strapless dress
she was wearing, which was pasted to the body at the back, was sliding
off the body. She was valiantly trying to avert the disaster by holding
her dress with the back of her Namastayed hands.
She also
explains why she wore a leg-showing dress while meeting Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. She happened to be in Berlin and staying at the same
hotel where Modi was also staying. She sought a meeting with him and it
was granted. She had been wearing such a dress since her childhood and
she did not mean any offence to him. The book has pictures of her
wearing such dresses in the past.
What is amazing about her is
that she not only established a name in Bollywood, but she also became a
celebrity in the US. What’s more, she is today an entrepreneur with at
least one successful app to her credit. Her company has produced many
films in regional languages, some of them getting national awards.
The
Priyanka Chopra Foundation is a non-profit organisation she founded to
educate the poor and to meet the medical needs of the deserving. As a
goodwill ambassador of UNICEF, she has done commendable work.
She
is also leading a happy married life with a person who is 10 years
younger to him. Her description of the Hindu and Christian marriages was
at once so touching that I was prompted to intone "Dheerkha Sumangali
Bhava!"
All this is not a small achievement for a person who,
like me, thought that her beauty was not all that great to take her to
places. This autobiography also proves that she has another successful
career ahead of her as a writer! May her future house be like what she
has described in the book.
ajphilip@gmail.com