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Preity Zinta Biography
Born:
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India, January 31, 1975
Years active:
1998 - present
Spouse(s):
None
Preity Zinta is an award-winning popular Indian actress who appears in Bollywood movies. She is among the most successful actresses in the industry, and is regarded as one of the biggest names in India. Balancing commercial successes with critically acclaimed performances she has established herself as one of the most prominent leading actresses of Hindi cinema. Zinta is placed on the top in the list of the biggest actresses of this generation.
Career
Early career
Zinta met Shekhar Kapur when she accompanied her friend to an audition and was auditioned too. Coincidentally, after Kapur saw her audition he insisted on her to become an actress. Zinta was meant to make her acting debut with Kapur's Tara Rum Pum Pum opposite Hrithik Roshan but the film never took off. Later, Kapur recommended her for Mani Ratnam's Dil Se.
Technically her first film was Kundan Shah's Kya Kehna but it got delayed till 2000. The delay of another film Soldier meant that she made her acting debut with Dil Se (1998). The film was her breakthrough role and she won the Filmfare Best Debut Award for her performance, which was only twenty minutes long. This was followed by the hit Soldier and Sangharsh, which did not do well at the Box Office, but gained her recognition as an actress. Zinta also starred in two Telugu films.
Breakthrough
Her first release in 2000 was the hit Kya Kehna. Critics began to take notice of her after her performance in this film. Her role as a teenage single mother was well acclaimed and she received various nominations in the best actress category.
She was known for enacting diverse roles. Roles like the mentioned CBI officer in Sangharsh, the teenage single mother in Kya Kehna and the prostitute in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke were very different from typical roles made by actresses in that point of time, and won her critical acclaim.
Later, she had successes with the films Mission Kashmir (2000) which was the third highest grossing film of the year and Dil Chahta Hai (2001) which entered into the top five highest grossing films of the year.
In 2002, she was the main protagonist in Dil Hai Tumhaara. The film marked an important milestone in her career. Although the film did not do well at the box office, her role as an adopted daughter was much appreciated and her performance was well acclaimed. Consequently, she became sought-after by some of the biggest filmmakers in the following years.
Success
The year 2003 proved to be a very good one for Zinta, as she was the female lead in three of the year's highest grossing films: The Hero: Love Story of a Spy which is considered as the most expensive Hindi film ever made, Koi... Mil Gaya and Kal Ho Naa Ho. She won many awards for her role as the insecure and angry Indian-American girl in Kal Ho Naa Ho. Her performance in the film also won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award.
This was followed in 2004 by the moderately successful film Lakshya which was the fourth highest grossing film of the year, and for which she received mixed reviews and the box office hit Veer-Zaara. Veer-Zaara was her second highest grossing film in a row, and marked her entry into Yash Raj Films, which is considered to be one of the biggest production houses in the Bollywood industry. All these achievements promoted her as one of the biggest stars in the industry.
She had two releases in 2005: Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen and Salaam Namaste. The former received poor reviews at the box office, while the latter did fairly well in India and was one of the biggest hits overseas. She also received various nominations for Best Actress in different award ceremonies for her performance in the latter, where she played the role of a single modern young woman who leaves India to make her own life in Australia.
Zinta was welcomed with similar success the following year in 2006. Her first release Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna released in August 2006 and became one of the biggest box office hits. She played a stylish and modern fashion magazine editor in this film, which was also well received. Her most recent film Jaan-E-Mann performed poorly at the box office.
In 2007, Zinta was offered a role in the foreign film Marigold, but turned it down.
Personal life
Family
Born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, she hails from a family of Rohru in Shimla District.
Zinta initially planned to do an English honours but later decided to pursue psychology. Zinta also attended Bombay University. After earning a degree in criminal psychology at the St. Bedes College, Zinta began her career as a model and appeared in several commercials.
Her father, Durganand Zinta was an officer in the Indian Army. Durganand Zinta died when Preity was thirteen, in a car accident which also involved her mother, Nilprabha Zinta. Her mother broke many bones in the accident, including her spine. Her mother was bedridden for two years because of this incident. Zinta has two brothers, Deepankar Zinta and Manish Zinta, a year older and a year younger, respectively. Deepankar is a commissioned officer in the Indian Army, while Manish is settled in Los Angeles.
Relationships
Zinta has been dating the Bombay Dyeing heir, Ness Wadia since February 2005.
In 2007, there was an alleged crisis in Preity's relationship with Wadia, due to the alleged affair with Shekhar Kapur (see controversies), and the supposedly cold vibes between Preity and Wadia's mother Maureen. Maureen Wadia reacted to the rumours in an interview. She ended up with the rumours, saying: "I'm delighted at my son's choice". In April 2007 Zinta attended an event along with Wadia, which proved that they are together despite the mentioned rumours.
Gossip has also linked her with many other Bollywood stars, but Zinta has strongly denied all these rumours.
Miscellaneous
Previously, when she was not shooting she used to return to her native town Shimla. Zinta recently moved into her own home in Mumbai, which she bought in mid-2005.
Zinta narrowly escaped death twice in late 2004, once after an explosion at a Temptation concert in Colombo, and later in the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
Zinta has also written three columns for BBC South Asia.
Commitments
Representation
In May 2006 she and Karan Johar received an invitation to represent Bollywood at the Cannes Film Festival. They took this opportunity to promote Johar's latest film Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. She attended the festival the following year in 2007.
In 2007, She co-hosted the 52nd Filmfare Awards ceremony, along with Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar and Juhi Chawla.
In 2007 she was the guest of honour in an art event called Spandan 2. The event took place in the famous Mumbai art gallery Articulate. Also in 2007, Zinta was chosen as the first brand ambassador for GoAir, a new Airway service.
Stage Shows
Zinta joined a group of top stars (Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Rampal, and Priyanka Chopra) in the Temptation 2004 concert, which was an international success.
In 2006, Zinta toured again, participating and performing in the successful Heat 2006 concert around the world, along with Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Sushmita Sen and Celina Jaitley.
Humanitarian Work
In 2005, along with other Bollywood stars, Preity performed at the HELP! Telethon Concert to help raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
In July 2006, Zinta participated in a blood donation camp organised by the Rotary Club of Delhi in association with Godfrey Philips Bravery Awards and donated blood. She supported the promote of this humanitarian cause, saying: "Donating blood doesn't kill one but goes on to save somebody's life. Blood donation also creates a universal world. Once blood is donated it becomes universal and might be used by anyone in need, irrespective of community, caste or region. It binds people together." Apart from it, Zinta also lend her support to the cause of women empowerment for Godfrey Philips.
Zinta donated her winnings, from her 2007 appearance on Kaun Banega Crorepati to the Shimla District Red Cross Society in Himachel Pradesh, along with Rani Mukerji. She donated Rs 25 lakhs to the society in support of its welfare activities.
Controversies
Bharat Shah Case
In 2003, Zinta was a witness in the Bharat Shah case and his links to the Mumbai mafia. She stuck by her statement that she received a threatening phone call from the mafia while shooting the film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2000). She was given police protection and was forced to stay out of the public eye for months. Many other celebrities including Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan were witnesses in the case but they soon retracted their statements. Zinta was the only witness not to have turned hostile.
Ness Wadia Case
In 2006, Zinta's boyfriend Ness Wadia was reported to have beaten up some construction workers in her building. The rumours also reported that a woman was critically injured and a child was hurt. Zinta was very angry at hearing these rumours, and had repeatedly shouted at the media very much about the incident, claiming it wasn't true. Zinta even offered 1 crore to whoever could find an injured woman. The press came up with no findings, and this rumour was considered to be false.
Alleged Affair
Actress and Singer Suchitra Krishnamurthy has blamed Preity Zinta for her divorce with Shekhar Kapur, alleging that Preity was having an affair with her husband.
It wasn't the first time that Krishnamurthy has accused Zinta in this issue. Previously, she had written the same in a personal blog. However, initially Zinta kept a dignified silence and refused to talk about the issue, waiting it to disappear for itself.
Krishnamurthy also stated, that after the first time she accused her in the blog, Zinta used to call her every day and try to explain to her that she was not responsible for anything, and had nothing with her husband.
When Krishnamurthy accused Zinta for the second time in an interview, Zinta was travelling and got to know that only when her business manager Tanuja Mehra informed her about it. Zinta denied all the accusations saying, "It is unfortunate that I am bearing the brunt of someone else |
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