Priyanka said that in 2008 she had a magazine cover which said ‘finished’ on her face. “I was panicked, my mum was panicked. She comes to me and goes, ‘you are going to be 30 soon. That’s old in this industry. They want to work with 20- year olds so you need to think about a revenue stream if you are going to sustain yourself’,” she shared. Priyanka said that it was because of this conversation that she got into production.

Priyanka had six flops at the time and recalled how she felt during this phase, “I was terrified when those six movies did not do well because I’m not a nepo baby. I didn’t have that kind of support which exists in a big way in Bollywood movies. They are multi-generational actors that come in and get multiple opportunities vs the ones that come in from outside. You don’t have your uncle making a new movie for you just because your last one tanked.”

PeeCee said that she is not the “best schmoozer” so was constantly worried how she would land her next big role. “You have to get it and you have to like hustle for it. I’m not the best schmoozer. I was like ‘I’m never going to be cast in a big movie ever again’ and that was one of the big reasons why I took on a movie on my shoulders, out of necessity, which turned out to be career defining for me,” she recalled. It was during this time that Priyanka starred in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion, which got her a National Film Award for Best Actress.