‘Preity Was Natural, Vulnerable’

‘My
mantra
on
set
to
actors
has
always
been,
‘Feel…
feel’.’
‘And
Preity
would
say,
‘Feeling…
feeling’.’

She’s
pretty,
she’s
chatty
and
she
always
manages
to
coax
a
smile
out
of
you
with
her
flashing
dimples
and
her
Insta
‘ting’.

Give
her
a

Dil
Se..
or
a

Dil
Chahta
Hai
and
she
will
sashay
through
these
films
with
effortless
easy.

But
what
makes
Preity
Zinta
stand
out
in
a
crowd
is
a
certain
chutzpah
that
made
her
go
beyond
the
conventional
Bollywood
heroine.

She
fearlessly
pushed
the
envelope,
playing
a
teenage
single
mother
in

Kya
Kehna,
a
streetwalker
turned
surrogate
in

Chori
Chori
Chupke
Chupke,
a
schizophrenic
shrew
in

Armaan
and
a
journalist
covering
the
war
in

Lakshya.

In
fact,
just
two
years
into
the
business,
she
played
a
rookie
CBI
officer
who
joins
hands
with
an
embittered,
incarcerated
criminal
to
stop
a
serial
killer
who
is
sacrificing
young
children
in
his
quest
for
immortality
in

Tanuja
Chandra‘s
1999
psychological
horror
thriller

Sangarsh.

When
the
director
learnt
that
Preity
would
be
bringing
on
her
50h
birthday
on
January
31,
her
instant
reaction
was,
“Wow,
would
you
believe
that!
Been
so
long
since

Sangharsh.”

Tanuja
shares
some
memories
with



Rediff.com
Senior
Contributor

Roshmila
Bhattacharya
from
their
journey
together:
“Ashutosh
Rana’s
cry
was
one
of
the
most
memorable
as
well
as
scariest
parts
of
the
film
and
Preity’s
reaction
to
it
was
real.
She
let
him
shake
her
nerves
completely,
and
that’s
what
I
was
looking
for.”

What
would
you
like
to
tell
Preity
on
her
50th
birthday?

Only
good
wishes
to
her
for
more
adventures
and
fulfilling
work.

What
convinced
you
that
Preity,
who
was
still
a
relative
newcomer
then,
could
pull
off
the
complex
and
layered
role
of
a
police
officer
in

Sangharsh?
Were
you
impressed
with
her
performances
in
earlier
films?

I
loved
Preity
in

Dil
Se..,
it’s
the
first
film
of
hers
I
watched.
She
was
natural,
vulnerable
and
adorable.

For
me,
as
a
director,
it
was
an
exciting
prospect
to
see
someone
like
this
in
a
serious
and
dark
film.

It
was
also
exciting
to
have
her
with
Akshay
Kumar
who
was
very
different
from
her.

I
went
with
my
instinct,
and
I’m
glad
I
did.

What
was
your
brief
to
her?
Did
her
degree
in
criminal
psychology
help
her
understand
the
character
of
Reet
Oberoi
better?

I
hadn’t
known
about
her
background
when
I
approached
her
but
when
Preity
told
me
she
had
a
degree
in
criminal
psychology,
I
was
pleasantly
surprised
and
it
felt
doubly
right
to
cast
her.

It
surely
helped
her
understand
the
complex
character
she
was
playing
as
well
as
Akshay’s.

Reet
is
a
young
woman
trying
to
make
it
in
a
male-dominated
field,
a
woman
with
a
wound
in
her
past,
but
also
someone
who
is
ambitious
and
resilient.

Preity
understood
that
and
was
not
afraid
to
explore
the
depths
of
the
character
as
well
as
portray
a
certain
sweetness.

Let’s
flashback
to
her
first
scene
in

Sangharsh
and
your
reaction
to
her
first
shot…

If
I
remember
correctly
—
this,
after
all,
is
over
25
years
ago
—
our
first
day
of
shoot
for
the
film
was
in
a
very
crowded
meat
market
in
Bhendi
Bazaar
(south
Mumbai)
with
Preity.

A
challenging
location
and
almost
impossible
to
control,
but
one
of
my
favourite
places
to
shoot
in.

It
was
a
tough
day
and
we
couldn’t
stay
beyond
half
the
day
due
to
massive
crowds,
but
Preity
managed
very
well.

I
love
the
vibrant
nature
of
real
locations
and
don’t
let
the
logistical
nightmare
to
hold
me
back,
and
Preity
followed
my
cue.

Given
how
terrifying
he
was,
what
was
Preity’s
reaction
to
Ashutosh
Rana’s
Lajja
Shankar
Pandey
and
his
‘ullu’
cry?
Did
you
ever
discuss
the
performance
years
later
and
wonder
if
you
could
have
done
something
differently?

That
cry
was
one
of
the
most
memorable
as
well
as
scariest
parts
of
the
film
and
Preity’s
reaction
to
it
was
real.

She
let
him
shake
her
nerves
completely,
and
that’s
what
I
was
looking
for.

Reet
is
a
courageous
character
but
not
one
with
an
absence
of
fear.

Many
years
later
however,
when
I
was
told
that
audiences
often
took
Lajja
Shankar
Pandey
to
be
transgender,
I
regretted
that
we
didn’t
make
it
clearer
in
the
film
that
he
was
a
man
wearing
a
sari
to
perplex
and
fool
people.

He
isn’t
a
trans
person
at
all.

One
memory
from
the
shoot
that
is
reflective
of
the
person
Preity
is?

I
really
can’t
recall
now…
it
was
a
physically,
as
well
as
mentally,
tough
shoot.

Akshay
has
always
been
fit
but
Preity
too
was
quite
tireless.

I
remember
asking
for
several
takes
often
and
Preity
would
do
that
would
do
them
without
complaint
even
in
physically
demanding
scenes.

And
Ashutosh
never
got
bored
of
doing
retakes.

But
I
would
say
in
all
honesty,
I
was
the
‘last
man
standing’;
constantly
pushing
for
more
from
them.

My
mantra
on
set
to
actors
has
always
been,
‘Feel…
feel.’

And
Preity
would
say,
‘Feeling…
feeling.’

What
kind
of
films
would
you
like
to
see
her
in
now?

There
is
a
lot
of
unusual
work
being
done
in
OTT
and
it
would
be
so
nice
to
see
her
in
a
series.