She's played glamorous roles and a girl-next-door in several of her past films. But Priyanka Chopra, who will be seen playing boxing champion M.C. Mary Kom in a biopic, says essaying an athlete in a film was almost unthinkable for her.

"Mary Kom" has thus, taught her a valuable lesson.

"I never thought I will play an athlete or I can become an athlete. I didn't know anything about sports. Besides, who would have thought that a girl can develop muscles and biceps, but that happened with me," the 32-year-old said here Tuesday in an interview.


"I learnt that if you are adamant to achieve something, anything can happen and you can do anything. This was a very inspiring thing for me," added the National Award winning.

"Mary Kom" marks the directorial debut of Omung Kumar and it hits theatres Sep 5.