"Do I look like a woman who plays in the minor leagues?" The question is asked, softly, by Nadia Sinh, among the last surviving members of the international spy network, Citadel, in Prime Video's web series of the same name. The line could well apply to Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who plays Sinh.
Because Chopra Jonas, who debuted on American TV with the thriller Quantico eight years ago, is in the biggest league of the moment. Citadel, which debuted late last month and also stars Richard Madden and Stanley Tucci, is only six episodes long. But the action thriller cost $300 million to make, and has become the network's most popular series after The Rings of Power. Local installments in India, Italy and Mexico are being planned, expanding the Citadel universe.
And Chopra Jonas, 40, is at the centre of it all, wielding guns, knives, even red lipstick, as a deadly weapon.
Prep and prime The Russo Brothers, Anthony and Joseph, who produced the series, wanted to keep it visceral, she says.
"They wanted to achieve stunts and fight sequences that you may not see women do that much." So, Chopra Jonas trained six days a week and for one-and-a-half years straight. “I wanted to show up and have my character have as much agency as any other character in the show," she says.
The prep was long and physically taxing. "I didn't go to the gym for five months after the show. I just didn't want to see any of it." Some signs of that action are hard to miss. Chopra Jonas points to a scar on her left eyebrow. She got it while shooting an action scene, fighting five men, on a rainy day, in a dense forest.
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