Priyanka Chopra Jonas is Savita Punia’s favourite Bollywood star and the legendary Hockey goalkeeper says she would want the actor to portray her if a biographical film is ever made on her life and career.

A PTI report from New Delhi yesterday quoted the hockey legend from an interview given to the news agency as saying, “I never thought of a movie being made on me. But if one is made, Priyanka Chopra is my favourite, and I think she would be able to do justice to the role.

“When I see their journey, it inspires me a lot,” Savita, known as the ‘Wall of Indian hockey’ and the country’s most-capped woman hockey player with 326 international appearances, told PTI in an exclusive interview at its office in Delhi.

Savita played a key role in India’s fifth-place finish at the Women’s Hockey World Cup this year, the team’s best performance since 1974, and its Asian Games gold medal triumph in Japan this month that secured qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Chopra-Jonas is not new to sports biopics as she portrayed legendary Indian boxer Mar Kom in the 2014 biographical sports drama ‘Mary Kom’.

She has also breached Hollywood becoming one of the few Asians, especially from South Asia, to now command mainstream roles there. The three seasons of ABC Network’s 2015 TV series ‘Quantico’ gave her the platform needed to leapfrog into the big league in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, away from the hockey field, Savita prefers reading books and listening to music over dressing up or watching films.

“I like reading books and listening to music. I start my day with the Hanuman Chalisa. I don’t watch many movies; I’ve probably seen eight or nine films so far, the last of which was Deepika Padukone’s ‘Chhapaak’,” she said.