Surviving in showbiz today is a continuous challenge. If you are a celebrity (of any sort) you have to be in headlines and the moment you are off page 1 or 3, you are a thing of the past.

And Priyanka Chopra (PC as she is known these days), knows it very well and has mastered the craft like no one. Thus it is no surprise to anyone with a keen eye on the showbiz news that PC has been on the front pages of all major publications – not only in India but all over the world and the paparazzi cannot have enough of her, all thanks to her interest in Nick Jonas, a 25 YO boy who looks like just a baby, particularly when he is with PC who turns 36 on July 18.

PC with mom Madhu Chopra

PC was completely startled and perhaps a tad embarrassed when Jimmy Kimmel (of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live), asked PC about Nick Jonas, after she had gone to the MET Gala 2017 with him on the Red Carpet and in the entrance of the mini bus they had travelled together.

What was he doing there, was he driving the bus?

What was he doing ? what’s going on? Are you dating Nick Jonas?

Isn’t he like 11 years old?

“We were both wearing Ralph Lauren, and we decided to go together, and it was fun… I didn’t ask his age… Is he 11? replied a visibly startled Priyanka in an effort to gather herself.

That was in 2017. Things have changed since then. She was still in the US for the shooting of Quantico 3. The reports are that show has been wound up for poor ratings and is not coming back with season 4. And she has not set Hollywood on fire with her histrionic skills on the big screen either. Although her own production back home in India is doing some work, she is not reported to have multiplicity of projects waiting for her there either. There are many much younger, pretty and very talented actresses who are busy and ruling the Bollywood Box Office. If not totally, things have moved on since PC gave a major blockbuster in Bollywood and while she has been attempting to lap-up a slice of Hollywood.

Is that why she has found work on the personal front?

Is turning 36 on July 18 playing on her mind?

Recently she said in an interview reported online she wants to settle down and have children. The time frame may be sooner than 10 years.

And is this why our hottest new couple, Priyanka Chopra (PC) and Nick Jonas are no longer shying away from the glare of cameras – about their discreetly and very badly kept ‘secret relationship’?

After having spent time with the Jonases at Nick Jonas’s cousin’s wedding in New Jersey, a few weeks back the duo flew to India, perhaps to spend some time with Priyanka Chopra’s family. The actor and singer-song writer were spotted together when they headed out for dinner at a posh Mumbai restaurant.

If media reports are to be believed, PC organized a very ‘select’ gathering of her Bollywood colleagues for the dinner.

Then the duo, along with some very close family and friends – holidayed in Goa. The paparazzi – in and around Mumbai was hotly in overdrive not missing a sigh – the two heaved together.

Instagram accounts of paparazzi photographers were working 24/7 to cover this ‘mega event’ rocking the digital and entertainment worlds all at once.

PC’s date night look

Well familiar with Mumbai’s monsson, PC dressed up perfectly for the occasion, keeping in check the humidity factor and managing to look ‘alluring’ to her partner – Nick Jonas. She chose a checkered skirt and a crop top for the occasion.

“The coordinated separates were not only playful, revealed a tasteful bit of skin but also looked comfortable. The Quantico star was not without a mini Jason Stavley handbag by her side and a pair of thin hoop earrings”, read a devoted media report.

Baby Boy love interest of PC on the other hand, wore a pale yellow T-shirt and khaki trousers.

PC enjoys the Mumbai rains with her and ‘Baby Boy’ love

Zoom fast into your childhood times of Indian monsoon and sweet memories of raindrops on your hair turning into dew drops – would come galloping, bringing the visuals of those blessed moments. It seems, PC is also fond of rain and to her utmost pleasure, she had rain-Gods smiling on the love-birds all the way from the restaurant to the terrace of her home in Versova – where Jonas took the video of PC leaping into him, enjoying the rain.

The duo took turns getting wet in the rain and made their ‘thing’ public when Jonas posted a video on his Instagram account, setting the world of entertainment reporting on fire.

This is how they presented themselves as ‘getting together’

PC and her baby boy love Nick Jonas first sparked romance rumours at the 2017 MET Gala, treading the red carpet together both in Ralph Lauren designs. The Met Gala is the fashion world equivalent of the Oscars, an evening when designers, models, and Hollywood stars convene in the year’s most over-the-top looks. It is the Super Bowl of Fashion. On the first Monday in May every year, everyone who is anyone, comes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the annual fundraising gala celebrating the Costume Institute’s magnificent new exhibition on a changing theme.

And that was only the start of titillating appearances – to woo the paparazzi eye. The speculation about their relationship status went into overdrive when they were spotted together over the Memorial Day weekend.

And it continued. The ‘juicy’ reporting was now in abundance for anyone looking for ‘juice’.

(After the Memmorial Day weekend appearance together), “days later, Jonas and Chopra were spotted having a date night at Toca Madera in West Hollywood, where they cozied up on the garden patio and munched on guacamole, the Ceviche Verde, chicken tacos and the Japanese Wagyu Beef”, said a report on eonline.

“Nick and Priyanka couldn’t keep their hands off each other last night at dinner,” a source told E! News of the duo’s date.

“They were cuddling and enjoying each other’s company at their table. At one point, they were even dancing together in their seats. It was really cute and they were definitely affectionate. They made it clear they were a couple.”

Since then, PC and Nick have continued to flirt up the social media doing things that led to the conclusion that – for now – they are in a relationship – they are a couple.

On their India trip, some reports suggested that the two may get engaged soon – as early as July or August. Although PC’s mother Madhu Chopra has poured cold water on such rumours when she, talking to an Indian news agency said – “it is too early to have an opinion”.

There is a golden rule in showbiz: ‘no publicity is bad publicity’.

And it seems, PC lives by that golden rule of showbiz. Compared to other ‘real regal guests, did you see her dress at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding?

But the question is – why is PC actually doing what she is doing?

Does she actually think she is going to marry Nick Jonas and settle down in life, have home and home with him?

Does she not know the long list of 15 girls – who are all rumoured to have dated him in recent years and none of those affairs/flings lasted longer than a water bubble?

Nick Jonas who is only 25, has been linked up with Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Courtney Galiano, Nicole Anderson, Samantha barks, Delta Goodrem, Gigi Hadid, Rita Ora, Olivia Culpo, Kendall Jenner, Kate Hudson, Tinashe, Lily Collins, Cheery D and Georgia Fowler before PC who is number 16 on the list.

On the professional front, PC may have some time on her hand, but is Nick Jonas her Mr Right?

Riley Cardoza, putting the list of his love interests together, wrote:

Nick Jonas has been pretty busy lately. In case you missed it, he recently released a song with Mustard, and considering he’s working hard on music all of the time, we’re surprised he still manages to find time for a love life! Fortunately, Nick has grown up in the spotlight, meaning that he’s used to balancing work with romance. That’s why, if his dating timeline tells us anything, it’s that the ladies don’t seem to mind his hectic lifestyle — at least in the beginning because, TBH, they don’t seem to stick around very long…!

Is PC then heading in the wrong direction – running the risk of being hurt and melancholic in the end?

Only PC would know. Or may be her mom Madhu Chopra as well – who is her best friend and also a close confidant.

And although ‘engagement’ plans of PC and her baby boy lover Nick Jonas could be reportedly soon, her mom insists ‘it is too early (for)… an opinion on Nick Jonas’.

Does that not make this whole exercise of ‘official instagraming’ of their relationship after travelling to India and meeting the family, PC’s escapade?                                                                                                                  -Shalini Singh                                         

By K. Dev