Happy Birthday Preity Zinta: The dimpled star after Sharmila Tagore

Preity Zinta and Sharmila Tagore are affiliated not only by their dimples but also by their fondness for Saif Ali Khan. Saif and Preity go back a long way…to her very first film Kya Kehna where she played an unwed mother. Saif was the father of the child. When Saif and Preity got together again in Salaam Namaste, she was again the unwed mother to Saif’s child. Preity Zinta’s first two films Dil Se and Soldier had her characters named after her. Happy coincidences have since then trailed the dimpled charmer’s chequered career. During her 20-year career — her last film was Bhaiyaji Superhit, a super flop in 2018– Preity has played every role, from an unwed mother (Kya Kehna) to a prostitute turned surrogate mother (Chori Chori Chupke Chupke) co-starring-her-pal-Salman Khan. Preity proudly preens that most of her films are clean entertainers. Out of the 37 films that she has done 36 have been ‘PG13’ (kids below 13 can see the films when accompanied by parents). Only her Salaam Namaste was for adults because a live-in relationship was scandalous back then. Preity has been able to project some dignity into every character she has played even if she was the prostitute in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. Preity found it hard to identify with this character. So Preity did some of her own research. She went to a lot of bars in Mumbai, and read books on prostitutes. She could have just watched Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Doing anything crass is not Preity’s cuppa. There have been times when she had to tell the director to tone down the tackiness. Preity once told me, “I’ve been brought up in an atmosphere where girls are taught to think for themselves. It’s therefore very essential for me to do progressive cinema. As a celebrity, I don’t want to come across as ill-informed. It would give cynics another chance to call actors dumb. Most of our audiences look up to us. And it’s important for an actor to set the right example. If there’s a scene where a man is shown hitting a girl I gently point out to the director that he’s glorifying domestic violence. There’re hundreds of inoffensive ways of conveying an offensive truth. There have been lots of times when I’ve said no to seemingly lucrative offers. I’ve been told what a fool I am. But I’d rather go by my convictions. This is me, and I’ve to be true to myself. I’ve to be comfortable with what I do. When I become old I want my children and grandchildren to look proudly at my body of work. Imagine my kids turning to me and saying, ‘Oh God! Why did you do that?’ Preity regards Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai as a turning point not only in her career but for Indian cinema on the whole. “Suppose someday someone asks me what was it like when I was young. I can show them Dil Chahta Hai. As an actress, the film showed me as something other than the chirpy bubbly all-over-the-place girl that I’m known to be. That’s me actually. In real life, I’m a happy-go-lucky chatterbox.” Apart from Salman and Saif her other favourite co-star is Shah Rukh Khan. She did her first film Dil Se was with him. She admits there was a misunderstanding with SRK during Dil Se. “We didn’t work together thereafter until Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. There was a bit of a misunderstanding. We weren’t fighting or anything. We both stood our ground. I think we just let each other be. And we both listened to four hundred people tell us things about each other. The misunderstanding persisted until KANK. And it was an absolute pleasure. He’s so cool and sharp. He doesn’t waste time.” She admitted to having learnt a lot from all the Khan superstars, Saif included. “Every interaction has enriched me. Some of them made me realize the value of rehearsals and others have taught me what I shouldn’t do. I follow the rationale route. I imbibe what’s worth it. But I don’t follow anyone blindly. I’ve shared a good rapport with all my co-stars. That’s because I’ve followed a principle: never get emotionally involved with anyone you work with. If that happens your personal and professional life immediately clash. And you’re trapped.” Preity had sworn she wouldn’t marry within the entertainment industry. And she kept her word.

Happily settled in Los Angeles with her husband and children, she still counts Hrithik Roshan and Bobby Deol as her. Bobby was a friend from before she came into films. Preity came to know Hrithik through his ex-wife. Susanne and Preity are best of friends. She remembers Hrithik had come to meet her with a cake on my birthday as the guy Susanne was seeing. Later Hrithik told Susanne, ‘What kind of a friend do you have? She comes late on her own birthday.’ In 2001, Preity Zinta made history by testifying against the underworld. Looking back at the scary experience Preity once said to me, “There’re times when you’ve to do things not to prove anything to others, but to yourself. This was one of those times. I didn’t do it to feel brave. But because I thought it was about time someone stood up to speak against what‘s bothering all of us in the film industry. But what shocked me was the way I was let down by the government. The trial was supposed to be on camera behind closed doors, in complete secrecy. No one was supposed to know anything about it except the lawyers. But before I got into my car and reached the venue it was all over the television channels. The crime branch had to withdraw all the news items from television. But by then everyone already knew about it. It made me think about this country’s judiciary system. What if some small-town girl was testifying against a goon? She’d have been finished!” That’s Preity Zinta for you. Just being in her own space is not enough for her. She is naturally curious. And unapologetically officious. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram