BREAKING THE SILENCE: PREETI JHANGIANI

By Fuad Omar.

The silent lover, the obedient wife, the mourning widow. These are all roles one would expect an actress to play after years of experience and many films, yet one newcomer dared to attempt the role in her debut film. She managed to bring this portrayal to screen through no major experience and effortlessly she waltzed into the hearts of film fans everywhere. The role is that of Kiran and the film Mohabbatein, which has broken box office (and now DVD) records all across the UK and the person is Preeti Jhangiani.

I meet Preeti in her apartment and the bubbly actress is far from the docile and quiet on screen persona she has embedded in everyone's hearts, displaying histrionics of an incredible scale which allowed her to carry off such a complex role in her debut film. "I am glad to have got such an offer in my first film, although I was being offered many films I chose this role and the prestigious YashRaj Films banner for my debut. Despite of there being 6 newcomers, Shahrukh, Amitji and Ash, I knew in no other film would I have people working so hard on my look and would I get such an opportunity to play such a tough role in my first film," she says with a smile before elaborating on how she got the role.
"I just went and I met Adi who had seen some of my modelling work and he said you suit this role perfectly, will you do it! It was just great! He had already seen my earlier work as I did a lot of modelling as well as a video for Rajshri Music which was a big hit called Yeh Hai Prem."

Her on screen character does not seem on the same level as the other two new actresses as she is more mature and much more reserved, with such complex shades to a person. How would she describe the role of Kiran? "Kiran is actually the role of an eighteen year old Indian girl who is as normal as anyone, but it's just the circumstances which have made her the way she is, and she's a classical Indian dancer. So when I heard it I said this is the best role! I underwent strict dance training for eight months as the master used to come every morning from 7 to 10 and in the evening we used to go for Western dancing with Farah Khan."

The topic moves on to the making of the movie and how it was shooting in London as we are fortunate to have had the entire cast being in Longleat or some part of the UK at some point during the making of this phenomenon. "Shooting in London was wonderful, it was a great experience. I'm lucky because I didn't have to wear short clothes and I didn't have that many scenes there compared to the others, so in that way I was quite lucky to escape the cold!" she says before I ask what it was like working with Aditya Chopra.
"Adi is a quiet person who is like a maniac on the sets, he's a very tough taskmaster, but then he got the work out of us and is very sure of what he wants. He'll say something like 'this is my character, you are not the character and you have to be the character'. And I remember he said this is one of the toughest roles so at the time I was doing a lot of South films so he said if you're not going to give me the time don't do this film, because you are not this character and you're going to have to live this character for a whole film, which is going to be a tough job. He just totally convinced me to drop everything and go for the role."

As she speaks my eyes search for anything sharp to cut my hands on, hoping she'll bandage them up so lovingly like she did with Jimmy Shergill on screen, but there are no sharp objects or edges in view and so I just let my imagination run wild as the walls turn white and the room transforms into a hospital bed, and as she is already sitting opposite me I pretend she is bandaging my hands, re-living just one of Adi Chopra's magical sequences from his second masterpiece.

I enquire about as to whether she has been typecast in the Indian look mould or is receiving offers which will be different from Kiran. "I thankfully haven't been typecast and have just signed eight films and only some are glamorous, so it's worked out well. There's a film with Bobby Deol and Mahesh Manjrekar, then there's another film with Firoz Nadiadwala which has Sunil, Akshay and Aftab, and another with Pehlaj Nihalani with Fardeen Khan and lots more. But these three are the ones I am looking forward to most."

Interweaving between fantasy and reality I ask how close she is to her character and whether she has the Indian-ness of Kiran, or is she a hardcore person with tomorrow's morals. This is where those searching for their real-life Kiran can smile and be reassured, she can exist as Preeti's response reaffirms. "I'm not Indian in the way that I'm dress Indian, as I only own about 5 salwars, and I hadn't worn them until my videos, but yes value wise and culture wise I am Indian to the core. I love celebrating our festivals and we do poojas at home and in that way I am very Indian like Kiran," she says as I look own to find my hands wrapped in white imaginary bandages, before I look back up with a smile at the girl who is responsible for this dream.

After Mohabbatein has firmly put Preeti on the map, it must be difficult to do other roles as the danger is usually to be associated with a certain type of character and even if she hasn't been typecast, wouldn't future roles have shades of Kiran and how would she filter through accepting a role? "The role should be a strong character whether it's an Indian role or Western, because I'm not here for the fame or the money, but simply because I love acting and being in front of the camera and I love the stage. It's something I enjoy doing and that's why I'm doing it, I don't want to do a hundred films or work 30 days a month, I'd rather do 15 days and do a few quality films," she says with a mature view of her career.

Before I leave, Preeti has a word of advice or even a wish which has come true for her, and with a smile she bestows those words on me: "Go for your dreams, don't forget your dreams they will come true." The words ring through as I go down the lift and look down at my bandaged hands, happy to have had the opportunity to learn a little more about the actress who so softly, so quietly and with just one film stole our hearts.