Priety Zinta- Hidden Gem
by Radhika Parekh
Preity Zinta is an extremely talented actress who has not been given enough credit where it is due. She has started in several award winning films, and has been a part of the prestigious, ever growing Bollywood industry for over 15 years. She debuted with the hit movie Dil Se, where she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for her performance in both Dil Se. The film was considered an unusual launch for a newcomer, as her role called for only 20 minutes of screen time. However, she was eventually noticed for her role, particularly for the forthright character she played. Her scene with Khan, in which she asked him, “Are you a virgin?” became well known. Audiences started seeing her a confident and talented actress at that point.
The first few movies she stared in had serious themes of nationalism and terrorism. Then in 2001 came National Film Award winning Dil Chahta Hai, which marked the breakthrough in her Bollywood career. Zinta earned positive reviews for her role depicting the contemporary routine life of Indian affluent youth; it is set in modern-day urban Mumbai and focuses on a major period of transition in the lives of three young friends. Various online blogs described Preity’s role in the movie as beautiful and vibrant, wavering between endearingly naive and confused.
Later that year, she was in a film called Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, where she played the role of a golden-hearted prostitute hired as a surrogate mother. Initially reluctant to play the part, she eventually accepted it at the directors’ persuasion and, to prepare for it, visited several bars and nightclubs at Mumbai’s red-light areas to study the lingo and mannerisms of sex-workers. She received a second Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Filmfare Awards for her performance. One film critic mentioned stated,“Preity Zinta, who clearly has the meatiest part of all, makes the best of it. Her transformation from the cocky and unabashed prostitute to a sensitive and warm person is amazingly believable.”
In one interview, she recalls that when she joined the film industry, her friends teased her that she would typically ‘wear white saris and dance in the rain’, thereby motivating her to play different parts, which she was later successful in doing.
Filed by rparekh at March 31st, 2013 under Uncategorized