Her twitter bio is impressive. It reads: Entrepreneur/Philanthropist/Angel Investor. Billboard Top 40 Women in Music & Int’l Power Player. Vanity Fair’s Next Establishment List. And underlying all these accomplishments is a simple line, “also manage@priyankachopra.” Anjula Acharia Bath is Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra’s wing woman. She lets the sultry star revel in the limelight. But Anjula watches her back and smartly plots all strategies.
The sharp and polished 43-year-old who has carved a phenomenal success story is dismissive about the twitter one liner: “Having it there for a long time, people told me I should also talk about Priyanka, so I did that,” she says in a late night transatlantic call from San Francisco. “I have been an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Priya is a passion project for me, that fell into my lap, when Jimmy Iovine (media mogul) and I signed her up. He asked me to manage her. I had worked with celebs like Lady Gaga and Enrique Iglesias who I had brought down to India, but had never managed one,” states the lady.
Priyanka and Anjula at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner in Washington DC
Anjula’s connect with Priyanka seems almost karmic. Like her, even Priyanka has been subjected to the ugly colours of racism in her formative years. That’s why the ridiculous stereotypical portrayal of Indians on TV shows has rankled Anjula deeply. She has openly lamented on the lack of Asian role models in the western world.
“In my growing up years, in everything I saw, especially television shows, they were stereotypes in terms of how Indians were portrayed on shows. Stereotypes are derogatory and even if they are true. I believe they are an exaggeration of the truth but they come with a singular story. But we are not made of one thing. Yes my parents are Indian, but there is more to them. They are working people and not conservative,”she says and it’s not hard to understand her bond with ‘Pri’ as she calls Priyanka—who has also shared experiences of racism while studying in school in America.
This topic does touch upon a raw nerve. “In the 70s the British National Party was like a Neo Nazi Movement. They were prevalent then and we were the only Indian or family of colour for miles. It was awful. I had a happy childhood at home but there was a lot that was shameful and painful and hurtful too. Pri and I share a common history in terms of dealing with that. That wasn’t going to keep us down, that’s why we had rejected typical roles which would have taken her career ahead much faster. Both for her and me, nothing was worth it,” Anjula confesses.
September 2015 was a red-letter month for Priyanka. She made a fabulous debut on the ABC drama Quantico, which made the United States of America take notice of the dusky Indian star. The American soap was launched a month later in India. And Anjula’s singular dream of introducing an Indian Pop culture icon into mainstream America finally saw fruition.
This is a story that stems from fascination and is seeped in solid faith. “I was working in a Startup and was at my parents’ home. I wasn’t even a fan of Bollywood. I saw Priyanka on Bluff Master with Abhishek, I saw that song Right here, right now, and wondered who is she. Later I saw Fashion and realised that Pri has got this western sensibility about her. And then years later, Jimmy and I were working with Lady Gaga and took her to India. Salim-Sulaiman were working with me on a collaborative project with Lady Gaga and they gave me Pri’s demo tapes. The next thing I knew I was meeting her. She was at work in a studio, and I thought to myself she has got that westerns wag, she has lived in the US from 13 to 17,” recollects Anjula.
The conversation gravitates towards Priyanka’s much talked about Baywatch debut. After Aishwarya Rai’s miniscule role in Pink Panther, there is apprehension that Priyanka may be short-changed in terms of her onscreen presence. Almost instantly Anjula’s mother-hen instincts coming to the fore.
“There is a huge difference with Priyanka. She is on TV everyday and she has millions of fans watching her every single week. When she stands on a red carpet or goes to a restaurant in LA everyone knows who she is — she is part of the pop culture in America today. The thing about millenials and American pop culture today is that people don’t have commitment like they did in the past. I loved Duran Duran, bought all albums. But people today prefer binge watching on TV shows,” she asserts.
Now that Priyanka’s journey has panned out extremely well, what is next on the anvil for Anjula? “Right now as a venture capitalist my passion has been around women and goals and creating opportunities for them. I really don’t care if it’s an actress or a pop star or a TV star. I’m enjoying what I do and don’t really see myself managing any other star but you can never say,” she admits.
