Mother’s Day Special| Parineeti Chopra’s mother Reena: She is my 4am friend

As Mother’s Day approaches on May 12, we celebrate the unique and beautiful relationship between mothers and their daughters. As a part of our special series, actor Parineeti Chopra’s mum Reena Chopra shares some lesser known facts with us and how she bonds with her daughter. “The bond I share with Parineeti is a strangely wonderful one,” Chopra begins, her voice filled with warmth and admiration. “Even though I am her mother and always will be, now at times, I feel that the roles are reversed. She’s literally my 4 am friend in the real sense of the word.”
Reena describes Parineeti not just as her daughter, but also as her mentor and guide. “Today, I feel she’s my mentor, my guide. She’s the best person to give me all kinds of advice that I need, whether it’s personal or professional or related to the family or anyone.” Their relationship is built on trust and honesty, with Parineeti always offering Reena unwavering support and insightful advice. “She’s the one who’s going to give me an absolutely undiluted suggestion about where I should be headed in my life and that’s what I love about our bond.”
Despite the physical distance that sometimes separates them, Reena and Parineeti remain close companions, sharing interests and hobbies. “Even though we might not meet each other every day, we are travel companions, we are reading companions, we solve jigsaw puzzles together, we share movie ideas and reading ideas,” she shares fondly.
Qualities Pari has imbibed from her mother..
“Today, when I see Parineeti, I see this beautiful, confident young woman with physical attributes mostly from her father, and singing abilities, definitely from her father. But, I also saw a lot of myself in her when I was a child. She has that fun streak. She has the twinkle in her eye, the spark, the love for thrill and adventure. I think she got that from me. I was lucky enough to be able to take her to Kenya to her grandparents in her formative years when she was young. And from there, she developed her love for water. And today, she is a certified scuba diver and she’s taken to water like a fish. So, we jump into the ocean together. And she’s taught me to scuba dive. I think that’s something that she got from my side as well. She’s one of those nerdy girls who’s really sorted in her head and she has imbibed all sorts of things from her surroundings, which have helped to develop her as a confident young woman today. She’s a problem solver, because she loves to apply her mind to any challenge that is put before her. I think that is also something that has probably come from me.”
Also Read: Mother’s Day special| Varun Sharma’s mother Veena Sharma: He made me meet Shah Rukh Khan
Journey towards becoming an artist..
Sharing her beginning and journey towards becoming an artist, she tells us, “My journey as a professional artist hasn’t been a very long one, but definitely a very satisfying one. This again, I attribute to Parineeti because she was the one who really pushed me to take up art seriously,” and adds, “I haven’t had any formal training in art, I’m a self taught artist. But, she and my boys were the ones who first gave me the first artist kit ever that I own, and really encouraged me to just take it up seriously, do something for myself rather than just for the family all the time. And that’s when I realised that colours and paints were a way of expressing my emotions, putting down all my doubts, or happinesses, or thoughts and feelings onto canvas. I honestly paint for myself, I don’t paint for people, but if I’m fortunate enough that people have loved what I have painted. I think that’s a great achievement for me.”
“Because it was my personal journey, a lot of it actually struck a chord with people who saw my art, and ultimately reached out to me wanting to own some of it. So that’s when realisation took place that maybe honesty in your art and all is something that really reaches out to people and that’s what I’ve been trying to do so far. My genres are mostly inspired by my travel and by the difference in culture that I experienced in the first few years of my life when I moved from Kenya to India. And all that is translated into some kind of a visual journey, which I’m very proud of today,” adds Reena, who shifted to India after her marriage from Kenya.
Reena cherishes the moments spent with Parineeti that mostly go by having fun. “When we are together, it’s all about discussing the next homemade meal that she wants to eat, or solving a jigsaw puzzle, or just playing mind and board games. A lot of our talk is just sarcastic banter to and fro, where she has the most amazing one liners that we have us in splits all the time. These are the little moments that we enjoy with each other now whenever we can, and it’s a wonderful relationship to have with a grown up daughter.”
Parineeti has also learnt a lot from her mum as says, “If there is one thing I have learnt from my mom, it would be to keep smiling no matter what your struggles are. She is so strong and always keeps smiling. She’s our family’s little atom bomb, our little packet of talent, kindness, dignity and grace. inherited her sarcastic sense of humour, her keeda for travel and her obsession with grammar!”