While Gunday showed her as the bombshell Nandita caught between two best friends, Barfi! (2012) was the zenith of her romantic credibility. Playing Jhilmil, an autistic girl in love with a deaf-mute man (Ranbir Kapoor), Priyanka delivered a silent, pure love story. No dialogues, only glances. This performance proved that for Bollywood actress Priyanka, relationships aren't about the words; they are about the silences.
Playing yoga ambassador Isabella, Priyanka leaned into the parody. Her romantic storyline was a joke—she was the "perfect woman" who exists only to make the protagonist feel bad. It was a meta-commentary on her own image: beautiful, successful, and seemingly unattainable.
Unlike the secretive affairs of her 20s, Priyanka went public hard. Nick proposed in Greece in July 2018. The video of him getting down on one knee has over 50 million views. This relationship was different because Priyanka controlled the narrative. She was no longer the "victim" of tabloid rumors; she was the author of her own love story.
Just when the world thought Priyanka was too ambitious, too global, and too independent to settle down, the plot twist of the decade occurred: The Nick Jonas Romance. While Gunday showed her as the bombshell Nandita
This was the most cinematic romantic storyline of her life.
It started with a Twitter exchange, a text message ("I’m told I should text you"), and a whirlwind 2017 MET Gala appearance where they attended separately but "coincidentally" matched outfits. The actual love story unfolded over two months of secret dinners and a reported $200,000 spent on a shopping spree at Tiffany's. They got engaged after just two months of dating.
Unlike her early Bollywood romances shrouded in secrecy, Priyanka went public. Loudly. The wedding in Jodhpur’s Umaid Bhawan Palace was a multi-day event that merged a Christian ceremony with a Hindu one. No dialogues, only glances
If you search "Bollywood actress Priyanka relationships" today, 90% of the results will point to one man: Nick Jonas. This is where her reel life finally caught up to her real life in a Hollywood blockbuster format.
Though Deepika Padukone was the lead, Priyanka’s item number "Ram Chahe Leela" visually told a story of unrequited obsession. But her real romantic peak came with:
One of Bollywood’s most talked-about affairs (allegedly). They reportedly grew close during Kaminey (2009) but broke up before the film’s release. The split was messy—Shahid skipped the film’s promotions, and Priyanka attended events alone. Years later, she called it a “young, intense relationship.” Her romantic storyline was a joke—she was the
Before she became a household name, Priyanka was linked to her Aitraaz co-star, the late model and actor Aryan Vaid. However, her most talked-about early relationship was with actor Harman Baweja. The two reportedly dated for several years in the late 2000s, even collaborating on the sci-fi film Love Story 2050. The relationship was highly publicized, and its breakup was equally so—rumored to have inspired many melancholic songs for Baweja.
More intriguingly, Priyanka was briefly linked to Russian martial artist and actor, Alexander ‘Sasha’ Aksenov, but the most persistent rumor of her early career was her alleged affair with actor Shah Rukh Khan during the filming of Don (2006). While both have vehemently denied it for decades, calling it "absolute rubbish," the gossip columns of the time often cited "unspoken chemistry" as the source of the whispers.