Priyanka Chopra Jonas on ‘Citadel,’ ‘Bluff,’ Purple Pebble Pictures

Having conquered Bollywood before moving to Hollywood in the mid-2010s, Priyanka Chopra Jonas now has her sights on new challenges. In October 2024, she hired veteran producer Anne Carey as president of film and TV of her shingle, Purple Pebble Pictures.

Attending the Red Sea Film Festival for a special tribute – which will be presented at an awards ceremony on Dec. 12 – the actor spoke to Variety about her upcoming projects and ambitions as an actor and producer.

Having starred in Bollywood hits such as “Krrish,” “Fashion” and “Bajirao Mastani,” her first major international role was in the ABC thriller series “Quantico.” Offscreen, she has appeared on Time’s 100 Most Influential People list and Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list.

“When I started in the business in India, I didn’t have any family members making movies, but through a combination of hard work, luck and perhaps destiny, I’ve been able to build my career,” she said.

She recently completed Season 2 of the spy series “Citadel” – set to release next year, in which she reprises her role as Nadia Sinh, playing alongside Richard Madden, Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville.

“The new season involves major developments for my character and for the rest of the cast, with new characters,” she explained. “It’s very rooted, very grounded.”

“Citadel” Season 1 included two episodes shot in foreign locations, and Season 2 added another two international shoots – one in Europe, the other in Latin America.

“We’ve already had the Indian show, which is sort of the origin story of my character, and the Italian show, which shows the back story of the bad guys,” said Chopra Jonas. “There’s never been a major TV show attempted at this scale – to take local filmmakers and crew and shoot separate episodes in different parts of the world and then make it all connect together. Our writers’ room had around 100 people, and in total, we’re standing on the shoulders of almost 400 people. Only Amazon MGM Studios could do this!”

Chopra Jonas founded Purple Pebble Pictures in 2015 in Mumbai, India, but moved its headquarters to the U.S. when her career shifted from Bollywood to Hollywood.

“I want to support new filmmakers around the world, acting as a conduit for various genres and providing a platform for talent to get started in the business. In particular, I want to support women behind the camera and writers.”

Anne Carey joined the company in October 2024, moving from Archer Gray, where she most recently produced Marielle Heller’s “Nightbitch,” starring Amy Adams.

Purple Pebble Pictures has a first-look film and TV deal with Amazon MGM Studios and recently produced Academy Award-nominated films “The White Tiger” and “To Kill a Tiger.”

“Anne is an incredible producer who has produced an amazing range of projects, and she can really help us expand,” said Chopra Jonas. “We have a very strong development slate with some really interesting projects that I’m very excited to develop with her.”

Through her company, Chopra Jonas recently co-produced and starred in the swashbuckler pic “The Bluff” for Amazon MGM Studios, directed by Frank E. Flowers and co-written by Flowers and Joe Ballarini. The other producers are Joe and Anthony Russo for AGBO, and Cinestar Pictures. Key cast includes Karl Urban, Ismael Cruz Córdova and Safia Oakley-Green.

In the show, Chopra Jonas plays a former pirate whose past catches up with her. “We try to show what it was actually like to be a pirate in the 1700s, rather than recreate ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ It was fascinating to research the lives of real-life pirates like the Irish woman Grace O’Malley. We shot the film in Australia, but it’s set in the Cayman Islands. The pirates used the islands, located in the middle of Honduras, Mexico and Cuba, as a resting place between voyages. That made it a really diverse place, with people from far away, like Scotland, Africa and India. That was a fascinating basis for a really diverse and powerful cast.”

As an actor, but without any producer role, she is starring in the action comedy “Heads of State,” directed by Ilya Naishuller and produced by The Safran Company for Amazon MGM Studios, due for a 2025 release. Chopra Jonas plays a bodyguard to the American president and British prime minister, played by John Cena and Idris Elba. The film shot in the U.K., France, Italy and Serbia.

“I’m the one who is doing all the action scenes,” she explained. “So that was really fun and challenging to actually make it look convincing, with guys like Idris and John. The vibe is a bit like ‘Lethal Weapon.’”

Looking ahead, Chopra Jonas says she is seeking out new challenges: “I’ve had the very good fortune in my Hindi language films to work in many various genres, so in my English language work, I want to dig deeper and work with filmmakers who push me to explore new roles.”