Priyanka Chopra Shares What It Was Like To Play A "Sexual Predator" In Aitraaz

Priyanka Chopra on Aitraaz: Actor Priyanka Chopra played the role of a 'sexual predator' in Aitraaz and she was 21 years old at that time, having just begun her Bollywood career. The film was released in 2004 and the cast included Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor. However, it was Chopra's performance as Sonia that wowed the critics and fans alike, Who would have thought that the former Miss World would be daring enough to take up such a complex role and do full justice to it!

For those who do not know, Aitraaz was a remake of the popular Hollywood film Disclosure, featuring Demi Moore and Michael Douglas in lead. In the film, Chopra played the role of Sonia Mehra who files a sexual harassment case against her subordinate (also her former fiance) when he rebuffs her advances.

Speaking to Vanity Fair recently, the actor revealed that when she chose to play a negative character, not everyone around her agreed with her ">decision to do so. "At that time, big heroines who'd be in the mainstream commercial movies had to be a lot more coy, pure, good girls. Versus my character in Aitraaz, who was a bad bitch. At that time, it was a lot," she said.

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She explained why it was uncanny for a woman her age and in her career point to play a negative role in the film. "Because my character was a sexual predator, and I was 21 or 22, and people were like, 'If you play such a sexually charged character, I don't know if your audience will be able to see you as the dream girl'."

In the film, Chopra played the role of "the girl you want to take to your bed". Not knowing what to expect, when her character got a positive response from the audience, she was "shocked." Chopra was amazed when the entire attention during the film's premiere was on her despite the film having a stellar star cast.

In 2020 too, the actor had revisited her role in Aitraaz social media, writing on Instagram, "2004, one year into being an actor, I played Sonia Roy in the Abbas-Mustan thriller Aitraaz. It was by far the boldest part I had taken on, which was a big risk at the time since I was very new in the film business. I must admit I was scared as hell but the artist inside me was crying for a chance to do something interesting and Sonia was exactly that...wicked, predatory, complicated and self-serving for the most part, but also surprisingly vulnerable and emotional."