"The minute there is someone special in my life, I will speak about it in open"
- PREITY ZINTAINTERVIEW

Preity Zinta has always been bubbly and individualistic both off-screen and on-screen. That’s the reason why she infuses strength in every character she portrays. And that’s precisely why this pretty woman has hardly seen any of her films during her six-year-old career. After portraying a journalist in Lakshya, she is all set to play Salman Khan’s beau in Atul Agnihotri directed Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha, also co-starring Bhoomika Chawla of the Tere Naam fame. The film is supposedly inspired from Hollywood’s Return to Me. We rope in the actress for a candid conversation on the film and life…

Initially you were to do only a cameo in Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha, then a song was introduced… so what’s your role finally like?
I can’t tell you too much about my character. But my role is certainly not a cameo, though initially I did think so. Atul (Agnihotri) asked for about 15 days from me, which made me think it was a small role. But little did I imagine he could shoot so much in a fortnight. Everything thing was so quick and systematic. The length of my role is almost equal to that of Bhoomika (Chawla).

Salman Khan is known to be temperamental in nature. This is your third film with him after Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega and Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. How has your experience of working with him been?
Salman is a very nice person. It is the media, which has called him temperamental. I believe every human being is temperamental in nature. You may be levelheaded this minute, but the next minute something absurd may come up and you behave differently. I don’t think only Salman is temperamental. Each one of us is that way.

Legendary AR Rahman has composed music for this film. That must have been an added attraction…
That was definitely a great attraction. The song picturised on me is especially very beautiful. And Rahman is one of the best musicians the country has had. Of course he has just composed two songs in the film. Himesh Reshammiya, who did a fabulous job in Tere Naam, composes the rest of the songs.

You bagged a couple of accolades this year, Lakshya was hit and there are high expectations from this one. Isn’t this year special for you?
Actually every year is special to me in its own right. Last year Koi Mil Gaya and Kal Ho Na Ho got great responses. Now Lakshya did very well, I expect Dil Ne Jise… to be appreciated by the audiences, then there’s a Yash Chopra film… You could say, this entire phase is very-very special. But then, hits and flops are not my yardsticks of happiness, though I have been lucky enough not to have too many flops in my career.

You have been lauded for several performances. How far are awards important to you?
Audience appreciation is very important to me. If that culminates into fetching me an award, it obviously means a lot. If I get a genuine award, it makes me or for that matter any actor, feel good. But if new categories are invented every year only to make a few stars happy, it does not makes sense. And more than getting an award, I look at these functions as a Bollywood fest. You can catch up with almost everyone from the industry and that’s a lot of fun. In that sense, I love IIFA awards because you celebrate with the film fraternity for three-four days.

You are one of the very few actresses to have had such a successful career despite having no Godfather in the industry…
What is destined will happen. I never intended to join films. Yet I happened to sign Kya Kehna as my first film. Though it released after Dil Se, my performance was appreciated. I kept on getting offers in the meanwhile, and I signed up a couple using my sensibility and that’s how I am here.

You seem to believe a lot in destiny. Was your switch from criminal psychology to acting also a question of destiny or was it a conscious decision at some level?
As I said, few things are destined to take place. You can’t stop them or go against them. My aim was becoming a criminal psychologist, but luck had it that I be in films. But you don’t completely leave things to take their own course. Everything you do is a conscious decision on some level. I got an opportunity and I accepted it. I had never even thought of enrolling in an acting class. I believe in living every moment instead of thinking of the next one. And the only thing, which drives me, is the conviction that I’ll give my best shot in whatever I do.

One sees a lot of new talents being introduced in Bollywood these days. What do you think of the increasing competition among stars?
Competitive spirit is good, as long as it is healthy. If you start getting jealous about everything your contemporary does, the entire toe-stamping saga begins. That’s something I don’t approve of. I don’t view anyone as competition.

But isn’t competition inevitable in a scenario where someone is numero uno and the others on the second rung?
I don’t understand the concept of number one and two, in the first place. The entire numbering business is media-created. I am on great terms with all actresses. Rani (Mukerji) is sweet and straightforward, Aishwarya (Rai) is very elegant and Manisha (Koirala) is certainly not what the media projects her to be. It’s one family, where one may be better than the other in some respect, but all have to co-exist.

Your position in the industry would also affect the kind of money you make… Actors shoot up their rates when the reach the top…
That’s a different issue altogether. And how much importance you attach to money matters. To me money is important as far as buying trendy clothes, travelling in first class compartments, and leading a comfortable life is concerned. Nothing beyond it. The moment money becomes your driving force in life; the deterioration of your performance begins.

You’ve played many bubbly and straightforward characters. How far are you so in real life?
I think I have played too many characters of a brat. I am tired of doing extra-bubbly roles. In real life I am quite a balanced individual. I am quite frank and straight, but wouldn’t like making my personal life public. And then I don’t have too much to hide either.

But you have hardly ever spoken about your love life…
There should be something to talk about in the first place. I have always been very candid about everything. The minute there is someone special in my life, I will speak about it in open. And I have repeated this a couple of times in the past. Yet I am linked up with someone or the other. First Aamir Khan is made to be my prince charming, and then when I go to New York for Kal Ho Kal Ho, Saif’s (Ali Khan) name is brought in. And the latest I get to know is my link-up with Abhishek Bachchan. I really dislike this.

But don’t such gossips come like a package deal with celebrity status?
Yeah, maybe. Lot of people want to make their own buck cashing in on your celebrity status. When magazines run out of ideas, they take this recourse and there are people who would love to read it. Every coin has two sides and may be this is the darker side of fame. Otherwise being famous as an actor is a great feeling. You earn numerous fans, whom you may never meet in person and yet they add on to your list of well-wishers.

You’ve gone on record saying you will never go around with someone in the industry. Why so?
I like drawing a line between professional and personal relationships. Seeing someone from the same profession could make things awkward. It may affect your professional tastes and you may end up Messing up equations with a lot of people. Today I am comfortable with almost everyone I have worked with and want things to remain the same.

By Qamar Zaman