17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Priyanka Chopra Jonas isn't chasing action for thrills, she's following the path carved by Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron and Cameron Diaz
Priyanka Chopra Jonas may have starred in some action films in Bollywood — including Don 2, Mary Kom, and Jai Gangaajal — but she was never quite positioned as a bonafide action star back home. The Hindi film industry rarely gave its female leads the kind of physically demanding roles that their male counterparts routinely get. Women are still often cast as romantic interests and accessories to the hero's journey in action flicks. A recent exception was Alia Bhatt's Jigra — a rare female-led action drama that she also co-produced.
But Priyanka didn't stick around waiting for meatier roles. Instead, she ventured into Hollywood with the 2015 series Quantico, where she played an FBI agent. While the show received mixed reviews, it marked Priyanka's entry into a genre and an industry that seemed to finally offer her the agency she had been seeking.
Cut to 2025 and Priyanka starred alongside action stars like John Cena and Idris Elba in Heads of State, one of her biggest Hollywood action films yet. In the film, she held her own — both in terms of screen presence and physicality — and reminded viewers of the fiery Roma from Don 2 and the emotionally layered Ayesha from Dil Dhadakne Do.
'I love what Tom Cruise and Akshay Kumar do. They're really good at that. But I don't think I have the courage to hang off a plane that's taking off or do that kind of stuff,' Priyanka recently told India Today during Heads of State promotions. Still, she admitted to loving the scale of mega movies. 'I do love being a part of big mega movies,' she said.
That last line is telling — Priyanka may not be chasing adrenaline for its own sake, but she's deliberately choosing large-scale action-driven projects because action is one of the few genres that transcends borders, cultures and languages. When you're thrilling audiences with high-octane stunts — jumping off planes, taking down villains in hand-to-hand combat, unleashing bullets, or going rogue as a spy — you're tapping into the oldest, most universal story: good versus evil.
It's a well-studied arc in Hollywood — women who break through as global icons in their 30s and 40s — not despite their age, but because of how they reimagine their career trajectories. For instance, Charlize Theron was 40 when Atomic Blonde released. Angelina Jolie, who is known for her action films like Mr and Mrs Smith, Wanted and more, was 35 when she did Salt. Scarlett Johansson (40), a known face in the Avenger franchise, just delivered hit actioner Jurassic World Rebirth. Cameron Diaz was 37 when she starred alongside Tom Cruise in Knight and Day. Michelle Yeoh — who redefined what a female action lead could be — won her Oscar at 60, but had been defying stereotypes for decades with her stunts in films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
It isn't just about these actors fronting blockbusters; it's about excelling in roles that move beyond romantic validation and are purely driven by physical prowess.
Priyanka may not have quite reached their level of global dominance — but her path shows striking similarities. Her appearance in The Matrix Resurrections (the 4th film of the cult The Matrix franchise), even if brief, brought her closer to the action genre's holy grail. Citadel (2023), though not a critical darling, had her showcasing physical agility in stunning fashion. In one scene, she fights enemies on a moving train while being flawlessly dressed in a red attire, a moment that went viral on social media. This scene evoked a similar feeling that one had while watching Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu's Charlie's Angels, where three gorgeous women would be performing the most wild stunts. It was Hollywood action at its best.
Joseph Russo, who co-created Citadel, lauded Priyanka's grit and said in an interview, 'It was the toughest we have put any actor through because she did carry a lot of physicality in the Season 1. It is the hardest job that we have ever asked any actor to do, including who do Marvel films. There was no rest for her.'
Priyanka's evolution hasn't been without stumbles. Films like Baywatch, A Kid Like Jake, and Isn't It Romantic offered limited scope. But her choices reflect a larger strategy to be to be part of 'mega movies' that offer global reach. And it's working. With Heads of State behind her and the upcoming The Bluff (an action-drama), Priyanka is doubling down on the genre that builds stars with the longest shelf life.
She may not be Tom Cruise or Akshay Kumar, but she's slowly carving out a path once walked by the Jolies and Therons of the world — one stunt, one spy role, one bullet-dodging scene at a time.
