Priyanka Chopra on Quarantining With Husband Nick Jonas and Indian Representation in ‘Evil Eye’ (Exclusive)

For Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas, the coronavirus quarantine has been a time of productivity and growth. Now that Priyanka is getting back to work, she says the shift from lockdown life to some semblance of normalcy is striking.

“We’ve been very, very safe actually, because Nick is Type 1 [diabetic], and I’m asthmatic,” Priyanka recently explained to ET’s Rachel Smith via video chat. “So, you know, we’ve just been super careful about who we interact with and how we do it.”

However, Priyanka has started working again — while also promoting her new horror thriller, Evil Eye, starring Sunita Mani— and she admits she’s “so excited about going back to set” now that she’s been back at it.

“I’ve been doing a lot of developmental stuff and producing a bunch of work, so actually quarantine has been very, very productive for both me and Nick,” Priyanka shared. “But just the idea of tangibly being back on set is, like, crazy.”

That being said, there are certain aspects to quarantine that Priyanka has gotten used to and has come to appreciate — as well as things she doesn’t miss about life as it was.

“Traffic. I don’t miss being stuck in traffic and going to meetings,” she shared. “I’m actually really grateful to be able to wear sweatpants with, like, a formal shirt and, you know, do an interview.”

As Priyanka explained, working from home and distanced from the normal pressures of celebrity life has given her time and opportunity to foster and develop her production company, Purple Pebble Pictures. Under her production banner, she teamed up with horror movie master Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions to develop Evil Eye.

The film follows a mother who becomes convinced that her daughter’s new boyfriend is actually the reincarnation of a person who tormented her in the past and is seeking vengeance. In the film, the mother gives her daughter an evil eye bracelet to keep her safe.

“When you are given a charm or given something from a family member to keep you safe, you definitely want to keep it with you and keep you safe. I love being superstitious a little bit,” Sunita told ET of the film’s premise and believing in the evil eye. “It’s my way into the horror aspect of things where you’re just like, you kind of like to be thrilled by the unknown.”

Serving as an executive producer on the film gave Priyanka an opportunity to develop a project that ticked two important boxes for her when it comes to filmmaking.

“It compelled me so much because of multiple reasons, [including] having two really strong female parts,” she explained. “I have a very, very tight relationship with my mother, and I love that mother-daughter relationship.”

It also gave her the chance to pull together a diverse cast and shine a light on actors who might otherwise not get a shot at working on a mainstream project for American audiences.

“My quest in life, as a producer, is to influx Hollywood with brown people, because we don’t see enough of us,” Priynka added. “And to be able to do an all South Asian cast in a movie with Amazon and Blumhouse — who are both powerhouses — was a dream come true for me.”

“I want to demand leading parts for people who are like me. I want to have girls that look like me…  start to be on the poster of a movie,” she continued. “It’s my greatest joy and honor to be able to create opportunities where I didn’t have them.”

It was also an amazing opportunity for Sunita, as she told ET, “I just got into this because I was doing what I loved and I didn’t see myself as a box or representation. I’m just who I am and then the box finds you and the sort of labels find you… So this movie is a big deal.”

Evil Eye premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

 

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