Sitting Preity!

By Fuad Omar.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This interview was taken before the anouncement that the forthcoming 'From India With Love' tour is to be postponed indefinitely. So please ignore the comments re. the tour. Enjoy the article!

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Preity Zinta has zing-a-zing-zinged up the ladder of success in no time. From a very natural and bubbly debut in Dil Se to an inspiring performance in Kya Kehna which signified the Indian film heroine was heading in new directions and could personify a strong positive character and be accepted. She’s done the hip, chic roles and even played a brilliant cop, but her new role is probably the most exciting: that of an evolving film actress at a time when change is coming.

Indian cinema is not only moving forward, it’s breaking barriers as well as records. Gone are the days when a Hindi film heroine was required just to look good and dance around the hero, she now has a voice and the audience wants to listen. A role model who established a close rapport with her audience almost instantly, Preity Zinta is not only part of the ride that is hoping to break new ground for Indian cinema, she’s also a prime choice as an ambassador of the medium and that’s why you’ll see why she’s one of From India With Love’s most closely guarded secret weapons. 

When I speak to the bubbly actress, she’s in Cannes soaking in the buzz that resonates throughout the world’s greatest film festival and greets me with a chirpy Hi! Ask how she’s doing and she draws a deep breath that exhales oodles of energy as she bursts out, “I’m good! Enjoying myself in Cannes, lots of things happening!”

The gal’s eager to talk about her first ever UK stage show and the opportunity to address her fans, as she can barely contain her enthusiasm.

“I’m extremely excited because this is my first stage show in London and the first time is always the first time, you never get it back,” she tells me. 

“It’s also the first time that Amitabh, Shah Rukh, Aamir, Ash and me are together on one platform doing something and I’m really excited because it’s the best from all of us and an experience for me. I’m just waiting to come and see you guys!”

Gathering words in between gasps of breath she smiles and tries to explain how excited she is, and finds there are none. She’s just waiting to show the UK how much fun she wants to bring and says:

“I just want it to happen as the energy and enthusiasm is really building and I can’t wait for it to begin.”

Kundan Shah’s Kya Kehna established Preity as a strong and positive role model for women everywhere in a role and film that only comes round once in a while. It also opened doors for actresses everywhere that until now were closed, and made the certain filmmakers and audiences realise that celluloid women have power and can get a message across without compromising commercial success. I enquire as to how Kya Kehna changed things for film and the identification audiences found with her on-screen character and the bubbly actress who had something to say.

“I think as an educated Indian person who has traveled a lot and has now entered the film industry, it’s important that we do films that are educational as well as entertaining. So I think with Kya Kehna certain things were established that India being the second highest population in the world, we don’t talk about certain things and even now in Indian families there is a lot of restriction, for example parents don’t discuss sex with children. That film discussed things and appealed to the youth and so I feel in a certain way people do identify with me in the sense that in cinema new things are happening, and we’re taking new issues into form that portray the problems of India today. It’s this new generation and they identify with a recognition of these problems and the way we discuss it.”

Being her debut film, Kya Kehna was no walk in the park. By the time it was ready for release, many were sceptical as to how it would fare and not because of its content but because it had taken so long to make. The outcome proved not only that a fresh subject can stand the test of filmmaking time but also that an effervescing and exciting actress had arrived on the scene. Preity, a newcomer at the time, was oblivious to how effective her performance was while shooting.

“It took forever to make Kya Kehna and was very difficult for me because I’m not a trained actress and have never gone to acting school, so to maintain that consistency was tough. At that time I didn’t feel it was acting because in roles like that and so early in your career you’re new and you’re just ‘being’ at that point. It’s only later you realise you have to work on a character and everything like I do now, at that point I was too busy just trying to get it right than do anything else and that’s where the director is very important. But it’s also the way Indian cinema is moving at the moment with the new generation of directors, new generation of thinkers and actors who are all willing to take certain risks and diverting into various different aspects within the parameters of Indian cinema and it’s great.”

Be it Dil Se, Kya Kehna or the technically brilliant and performance packed Mission Kashmir, Preity has always been associated with what are important and impact-making films. Her last path-breaking film was by newcomer Farhan Akhtar and resulted in not only a product that twisted a new angle to the way Indian films were being made, but also a subject that touched hearts and identified the now gener-asian.

“I’m very proud and happy to be associated with Dil Chahta Hai,” enthuses Preity. “Because that was our voice you know, it was the new generation and the urban Indian youth and almost to an extent the yuppie Indian youth where we’re just hanging out and doing stuff, trying to be independent. So when this guy who’s a friend of mine, Farhan (Akhtar) decides to make a movie and we all get together with a 135 person crew it breaks a certain amount of usual norms, it broke away from the hero and heroine syndrome, we were only characters. That’s really, really interesting because if it develops more, then our cinema is going more international and much faster. Because we’re adapting and reaching out to various different audiences and not only the thinking that’s confined to interiors and the villages in India which was initially what was happening. I think now, with the media opening up and the networks such as cable and satellite and the internet explosion, everything’s changing, the viewership and thought process has changed and how they look at a film and perceive the product has changed, there’s so much more awareness now.”

Her films are international successes and her fan following in the overseas market is extraordinary, and with a grand show like From India With Love which is aimed to cater to both an Asian and non-Asian audience, she finds herself once more contributing to something that is pushing Indian cinema further. Speaking in a voice that conceals a wry smile that says ‘my lips are sealed’, Preity tells me although she can’t reveal what exactly this show will bring to the UK, she can definitely guarantee it’ll be like nothing before.

“Well I don’t think I can tell you what I’ve got planned for these shows, but I can assure you they’re going to be very different in terms of creativity because it’s not going to be your typical people coming on stage, lip-synching and miming to songs and leaving, there’s much more creative input gone into it and we’re working on scripts to give the essence of the Indian film industry in the films that we’ve done rather than just come, do a song and leave. Yes songs and music are a huge part of our culture and those are definitely going to be there but there are also going to be certain other things that will set the mood. Last year when Ash, Aamir and I did the world tour, everybody said it was different and they had seen a lot shows but never one with such creativity in it.”

She accompanied Aamir and Aishwarya on the tour that rocked the US and was meant to come to our own shores, but September 11th changed the schedule and resulted in UK fans missing out, only to be compensated with what is set to be the biggest event of its kind ever to be held in the UK. I ask her to re-live the moment she first came out on stage in front of so many during her last tour and she energetically reveals:

“God I was so nervous! The first time I stepped out onto stage I had all this nervous energy popping out of my fingers, ears, feet, everywhere and my first two shows I have no idea how I did them, but after that I sort of relaxed. It’s all about having fun, that’s the whole point!”

“There’s a stage when you get overwhelmed by everything but there’s a point when you just let it take over and get into and rise over the moment. That’s when you feel your heart beat and the energy there is and it’s the most amazing thing to be in front of a live audience, especially one that’s reacting really well. The worst thing would be to be in front of an audience which is not reacting!”

From studying how criminal minds work to films to now performing in front of millions, Preity Zinta has come a long way. She’s been central to path-breaking films and delivered performances that have earned her accolades and clearly shown she is here to stay. Her decision to take on different roles and make a difference is probably the biggest gamble a newcomer can take, but it’s paid off and she has in a short span of time established herself as a constantly evolving and progressing actress.

“Thank you that means a lot, I don’t come from a film background so my culture and way of thinking was different and I was studying criminal psychology. When I got into films everyone was teasing me ‘Preity, please don’t put on a white sari and start dancing’ so it was a conscious effort from my side to do work that makes a difference, because you know cinema can make a difference. A normal person on the road can go and watch a movie and be completely moved by it. It can change his point of view or at least contribute to it, and that’s the power of cinema. So it’s a power that should be used positively and a medium that can have both substance and entertainment, that’s why I always try to do roles that will make a difference, and sometimes I’ve succeeded and other times I’ve realized - ‘ok that wasn’t right’.”

“From playing an unwed mother to my character in Dil Se which was a normal girl, probably one of the most normal girls on Indian film. The way she was so down to earth and so frank that she asked a guy ‘are you a virgin?’ and says my boyfriend dumped me because he had to go to another place. From playing an unwed mother in Kya Kehna which I felt was a good film that was not propaganda telling teenagers to go out and get pregnant, it was to say that we have to take responsibility for our actions and that our parents should support us in certain ways and increase awareness in certain ways. This was to say don’t make the same mistake that this girl did and when something like this happens there’s not just one person to be blamed. Then I played a cop in Sangharsh, which was different and quite crazy, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke where I played a prostitute - that was a bit full on though! So I’m trying to do different stuff, I don’t know what works, it’s really up to the audience, if the audience supports good films it makes it easier for us to encourage better film. If they go and support a really silly filmi cheesy film I’m going to kill half of them! Because then there’s twenty more of these silly cheesy films coming out and instead of moving forward you’re taking a few steps back! So it’s important for the audience to support us and good, intelligent cinema, like the West where great films do well and so they think of making five more great films.” 

“So now if a love story does well they want to make five more love stories and if a cheesy film works they want to make ten more of them because they believe in the formula system that if one film works it’ll work again.”

Defying predictions and conventions the young actress has much more in store and hasn’t even finished her first innings yet. With her it’s one long take that endures and entertains. As she reveals what’s in store, she can’t hide her infectious enthusiasm of every film she mentions.

“One film is Rakesh Roshan’s Koi Mil Gaya with Hrithik, which will be the world’s first special effects sci-fi film that is a musical. I think that’ll be something very, very different. It’s incredible how it’ll be, it’s going to be a fantasy, it’ll break your heart, it’s going to make you smile and cheer the human spirit, it has everything. Then there’s a film called The Hero with Sunny Deol, directed by Anil Sharma, it’s a film about espionage and is a spy thriller. Then I’m doing a film with Honey Irani called Armaan which we haven’t started yet but will have Anil Kapoor and Gracey. I have a film also ready to release now which is called Dil Hai Tumhara, the promos are going to start now in the next few weeks.”

“I’m looking forward to that film because it’s the first time a character like the one I play is appearing no the big screen. Usually when you have a heroine she plays a character limited to a heroine, but this time I’m playing someone who’s a complete tomboy. And it’s not a tomboy who dresses in saris and has long hair, it’s a real tomboy. I cut my hair for the movie and have short hair to my ears now.  In it I play a complete rebel, a compulsive liar, attention seeker and a total liar. It’s a very deprived and interesting character, the kind that has the undertones of never getting love and always wanting that love. A girl who wants to do everything right but has all the wrong ways of doing it. I’m really looking forward to it because it’s a comedy and a tragedy and it’ll make you both laugh and cry and feel for the character.”

Before wrapping up and wishing her well, I ask how she’s enjoying the film circus that is Cannes. This year sees India making its mark as not only are Raj Kapoor’s films being felicitated and Devdas being premiered, but also Asoka and K3G are being screened and the international, particularly Hollywood press are lapping up the Indian magic. Preity of course, is having a blast too.

“Well yesterday was this India Day party which was quite nice, and Devdas is really happening. I was actually going to come back early but then thought since I’m here I may as well stay and see Devdas.”

“I’m so happy that Indian cinema is coming of age and going global, and that an awareness is increasing. There are so many people you meet here; I don’t even remember their names! It’s like a sea of faces and so many cards being given into your hand, which all go into my bag, then I get back and look at them and say ‘who was that??’! But it’s great, it’s absolutely crazy! It’s incredible how they do marketing in the West and how these people work. It’s good to be here and it’s an experience.”

As I end my conversation with the pretty young actress, I ask her to leave readers with some words she’d like to convey and she pauses for a second before using this interview to deliver a positive message to all too.

“Look forward to something really different and that you have never seen before in Hyde Park or Manchester! If there’s anything I’d really like to say to the readers it’s that people blend better than governments, so it’s time we put aside these petty affairs and got together as one world, lived our lives, had fun and enjoyed ourselves, and of course, enjoy the show!”