Madhu Chopra has been standing like a rock in her daughter Priyanka Chopra’s world, whether it was escorting her during her Miss World days or running their production house Purple Pebble Pictures together. Also a doctor, Madhu recently opened up on the sound financial planning that she and her husband, late Ashok Chopra, carried out, which Priyanka has now inherited.
“Diversify karna chahiye apne jo bhi income hai. Ek allotted rehna chahiye itna percentage of my kamai will be kept aside for savings, home expenses, emergency, luxury. Aise kar ke categorize kar lo. Kisi mei zyada kamai hai toh zyada daalo, kum hai toh kum daalo. Jaise hum practice mein toh humare mostly cash business tha, wo bank mei jata tha. Usmei se jo bade note ka gaddi tha, kitna bhi bada ho, chhote note ki jo gaddi thi, usko main alag rakh deti thi. Baki sab bank mein jata tha. Toh wo ek alag tarah ka siphoning out jo hua, that became my bullish. Jisko main ikatha invest karti thi. Uss time SIP ka knowledge nahi tha mujhe, recurring deposit mein invest karti thi. (We should diversify our income. We can allot certain percentages of our income proportionately to savings, home expenses, emergency and luxury respectively. Like, when we were practicing, we dealt in cash transactions. I kept aside some cash and the rest was deposited into the bank. I invested that cash. I didn’t have the knowledge of SIP back then, so I invested in recurring deposit),” Madhu said in an interview with Pinkvilla.
“Par jab lump sum achha dekha maine 3-6 mahine mein, I could buy a house with that money, a gaadi with that money, I invested that money. Jaisa main humesha kehti hu, ek plan B, backup hona chahiye. Toh ye humara backup tha. Risk lene se darr nahi tha. Toh jab hum Bombay move hue with no job, nothing, no ghar, koi darr nahi tha. Cushion bana ke rakha tha humne. (When I saw a good lump sum amount in 3-6 months, I could buy a house and a car with that. As I say, there should always be a plan B, a backup. That was our backup. We didn’t fear taking risks. So even when we moved to Mumbai without jobs or a home, there was no fear. We had a cushion),” added Madhu in the interview.
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Madhu confessed that as a producer at Purple Pebble Pictures, she was very strict. She had to safeguard her production, so she wasn’t casual about expenses. She believed “only mad people” can do film production, and she didn’t want to go mad. Otherwise quite cheerful, Madhu claimed she wasn’t a “pleasant” producer. She added that everyone she worked with as a producer may not have liked her as a person for the same reason. She also clarified that Priyanka “completely” handheld her, whether she was in India or the US. She handled the creative aspects absolutely, but was as involved in the business and legal departments.
“I have no idea really (about her investment strategies), but I know that she’s very secure,” said Madhu, who added that Priyanka inherited her parents’ financial planning skills. “Matlab fizool kharchi nahi. Frugal bhi nahi, but faltu squandering bhi nahi (she neither is frugal, not squanders money). And of course, set up a business, set up a plan. Jaise maine kaha, backup plan. Kisi jagah mein jao, kuchh bhi karo, ek backup plan toh hona hi chahiye (As I said, backup plan. Wherever you go, whatever you do, you must have a backup plan). You never know when what happens,” said Madhu.