IANS

ACTRESS Parineeti Chopra, whose first solo film Ishaqzaade hits theatres on Friday, holds three degrees in finance and always dreamt of becoming an investment banker. But the global recession of 2009 changed her future, and she ended up acting.

“I have three degrees. I have done triple honours in business, finance and economics. I have grown up wanting to be a banker, so studying finance was an automatic thing,” the 23-year-old said.

“I went to England and studied in the Manchester Business School. Then I went to London because I wanted to work in an investment bank. But recession hit in 2009 and I wasn’t getting a job and it was not because of my qualification, it was because they couldn’t give jobs to people who were not British nationals,” she added.

That’s when she had to return home.

“I came back to India and I wanted to do an internship for six months and I happened to come to the Yash Raj Films office. I was very intrigued by this huge studio in Mumbai. So I said let me try,” said Parineeti, who made her debut with YRF’s Ladies vs Ricky Bahl in 2011.

Parineeti, who happens to be actress Priyanka Chopra’s cousin, says her close proximity with the profession increased her interest in acting.

“I used to work with different actors. My respect for the profession increased soon after I came back to India, I fell in love with acting. I loved what actors used to do and I always felt I could act. So I decided to become an actor,” she said.

In Ishaqzaade, Parineeti is paired opposite filmmaker Boney Kapoor’s son Arjun Kapoor.