Every time the odds were stacked against her, she beat them to keep emerging the winner. Turning every adversity into an adventure of triumph, Priyanka Chopra made her own rules, set a template for success. The riveting inside story of a consistent winner, narrated by the best names in show business, The Dark Horse goes backstage to see how some of her finest works were filmed. And how an unknown girl from Bareilly went on to put India on the global entertainment map. Her life is a Master Class in Winning. A stimulating, compelling read by best-selling author Bharathi S Pradhan. The world at her feet – after beginning as the underdog at the Miss India contest back home, Priyanka won the Miss World 2000 title at the Millennium Dome in London. “I won and my life completely changed. Arre, how did this happen?” she exclaimed. It was soon studios and shoots instead of studies and books My time or yours? Aseem Merchant, her first steady boyfriend in Mumbai. He was with her when she went through the highs and sighs of the world beauty pageant. And she stood by him when he faced tragedy at home The seductress at work – Priyanka took the risk of playing a man-stalking vamp in Mukta Arts’ Aitraaz which turned out to be a winner on all fronts. Apart from being a commercial success, it marked the arrival of a very competent actress who was unafraid to experiment with her roles. Aitraaz played a huge part in fetching her the lead role in Krrish, a plum assignment opposite heartthrob Hrithik Roshan. Interestingly, Aitraaz was directed by Abbas-Mustan who had once replaced Priyanka with Ameesha Patel in their film Humraaz The ‘Desi Girl’ tag stuck to her after she did that swinging number in Dostana. ‘Desi Girl’ was her calling card when she went West with her single ‘Exotic’ with Pitbull The 7 Lives of Susanna – Priyanka picked up the challenge of playing a woman who murders seven husbands in 7 Khoon Maaf, a film in which she aged and turned downright ugly too. “Every actor must work at least once with Vishal,” she enthused about her director Her fearless foray into downplaying her glamour to be in character won her the admiration of co-star Neil Nitin Mukesh who played one of her seven husbands in the film Mee Marathi – after she lost her father to cancer, Priyanka and her mother Madhu set up a film production house, Purple Pebble Pictures, in Mumbai, with the actress calling the shots long distance from the US. Straddling two continents, she astonished her colleagues by backing small-budget regional cinema in a big way. She came up trumps with the Marathi film Ventilator which Rajesh Mapuskar (below) wrote and directed for her company. Priyanka also had a coach in New York to teach her to pronounce the lyrics of ‘Baba’, a song she sang in Marathi (right) and dedicated to her late father