Subhash K Jha in this special feature reflects on Preity Sinta’s career and shares a throwback conversation with the actress when they discussed her role in the hit film Dil Chahta Hai.
At one point of time, Preity Zinta and I used to be friends, so close that she once told me if she had ten guests at her wedding, I would be one of them. We’ve met several times over the years, once famously for lunch at a high-end Mumbai restaurant with Karan Johar, where heads turned towards us as Preity, Karan, and I entered.
The last time I met her was when she came home for lunch in Patna. We haven’t been much in touch since then, after her marriage and babies. But I have only good wishes for this Zinta Dil actress.
Among the work she did, Preity was understandably the proudest of Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai. In an interview we did in 2003, Preity said, “Not so much for me as for Indian cinema. The Indian contemporary youth was shown in the right light for the first time. Suppose in 2020 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.”
She admitted she had differences with Shah Rukh Khan during her debut film Dil Se. “My first release Dil Se was with him. We didn’t work together thereafter. There was a bit of 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. But now we’re working together. And it’s an absolute pleasure. He’s so cool and sharp. He doesn’t waste time. We come on the sets, give our shots and leave.”
She enjoyed the privilege of having worked with all three Khan superstars. “I’ve learnt quite a bit from all of them. 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. If I work with Aamir, it doesn’t mean I’ll start behaving like him. I’m too much my own person. 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 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. 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. 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 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.
She counts Hrithik and Bobby as her lifetime friends. “Bobby has been my buddy from before I came into films. I came to know Hrithik through his wife. Suzanne and I are best friends for the last ten years. I remember he had come to meet me with a cake on my birthday as the guy Suzanne was seeing. I had found him very thin. I remember he told Suzanne, ‘What kind of a friend do you have? She comes late on her own birthday.’”
Preity is the only Bollywood actor who had the guts to testify against the underworld. “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 on television channels. For ten days, I was nowhere to be found. 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! The whole thing made me angry. For the first time, it made me think that I should go into politics so I could make a difference to our social system. I guess I’ve made enough money to live comfortably. I live the way I want to. Now, I do want to make a difference. If corruption is inevitable, then we should legalize it by five percent. At least the other ninety-five percent would go into the right channels. Every time I return from abroad, the chaos hits me right from the time I disembark. Ours is a great country with so much cultural and spiritual value to offer. And we‘re throwing it all away. Spain has a population of 40 million people and 60 million tourists coming in each year. India doesn’t have even a fraction of that influx! Why can’t we re-package India as a land of peace and spirituality?”
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 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?’”
