Ever since she won the Miss World Crown for India in 2000, there has been no stopping Priyanka Chopra. She has continuously achieved many recognitions and made the country proud. From bagging roles in big budget Hollywood films to playing the central character in a popular American TV series Quantico, Priyanka Chopra has carved a niche for herself and has become a popular name in the US. She also won the prestigious People’s Choice Award for her performance in Quantico.

PeeCee is loved for not only her acting abilities and looks, but also her wits. She has also been invited to some of the most popular American talk-shows like The Ellen Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Tonight Show. She has, in fact, represented the country brilliantly on these shows, giving some memorable replies to questions about India and Indians. Also she had the honour to be invited to the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Priyanka Chopra in The Ellen Show. (Photo Credits: Youtube Still)

But while the rest of the world has been celebrating her achievements, Indians can't seem to go beyond her ‘fake’ American accent, her fashion faux pas, her "anti-national" stance  for sporting a tricoloured stole, and her personal life.  She has been recently making a lot of news for dating Nick Jonas because Priyanka is 35 and Nick is 25. As bizarre as it sounds, people have an issue with the couple because she is "too old" for him.

But not many people raised eyebrows when Sachin Tendulkar, a cricketer revered like god, married Anjali Tendulkar, a woman five years older than him. Similarly, nobody cared when other celebrities like Saif Ali Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aditya Pancholi, Farhan Akhtar and Sunil Dutt married women older to them. But when a Priyanka Chopra starts dating a guy ten years younger to her, she is a fodder for trolls online. Why? Let us consider the more recent examples. Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor too started dating recently. Unlike Priyanka and Nick, Ranbir has also hinted at a confirmation of his relationship with Alia. Ranbir and Alia also have an age difference of 10 years just like Priyanka and Nick. But surprisingly, the social media is busy adoring how ‘cute’ the couple looks.

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A post shared by Alia ✨⭐️ (@aliaabhatt) on

Why is it okay that in relationships where the woman is older, the younger man is never trolled? Why is it okay if a man is with a younger woman and not the other way round? It goes to show how deeply the misogyny is entrenched in our heads.

While she is older, Priyanka has had a more successful career than Nick's. Maybe that hurts fragile egos, causing people to lash out at the woman who should ideally be "lesser" than her man. This is probably why the two are  are being mocked. For people who say Nick can do better, who are we to decide? Why should we as a society not respect two consenting adults involved in a relationship even if that doesn’t suit our conventional norms? Isn’t it unfair of us to make moral judgements about their personal lives just because they are a celebrity couple and most of the information about them is available for public consumption?

Priyanka Chopra with rumoured beau Nick Jonas. (Photo Credits: Twitter)

What we really need to do is to chill and let PeeCee and Nick decide for themselves. Even some of India's greatest male superstars from Bollywood have not come close to Priyank's achievements in the international arena.  Instead of looking for an opportunity to put her down, we must appreciate her for representing her country in a way no other Indian film personality has.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 05, 2018 12:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).