Kashibai is a child-woman: Priyanka

Priyanka Chopra talks about playing Kashibai in Bajirao Mastani.

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It must have been crazy playing diverse characters — Kashibai (in Bajirao Mastani) and Alex Parrish (in Quantico) — almost simultaneously.

It was absolute madness. I was a lost case. I felt like a schizophrenic. Thankfully, I could slip in and out because even here (Canada), the writers are amazing. And there, of course, we have Sanjay Leela Bhansali, a genius filmmaker. You know, I picked up this role because Kashibai’s character is so heartbreakingly lovely. It is nice to be part of retelling the history that people have forgotten. I am so different from what Kashibai was. So, it was kind of fun creating her… with zero make-up and light-eyed lenses, because she was a Maharashtrian Brahmin and everything had to be kept natural. Sanjay sir would not even allow the use of electric curlers on my hair. It had to be curled through hand. He didn’t want to compromise on anything. We looked at old movies to get ideas. Besides, I had to wear that 11-yard saree; it was so difficult to carry it around. Kashibai is this naïve, child-woman character and it was nice playing her.

Well, looks like Kashibai is already a hit. We hear you were offered a Rs 9 crore endorsement deal by an ethnic wear brand.

I won’t discuss the price point, but yes, there is a good offer. You know I have taken pride in doing such diverse roles, characters that are not the real me. I enjoy taking up characters which others might think is impossible for me to portray.

People have raised objections to certain ways the characters in Bajirao Mastani have been portrayed.

We are telling stories about human beings. And what these three human beings (Bajirao, Mastani and Kashibai) went through 500-plus years ago, no one knows. It is the director’s vision of what might have happened.