This story is from May 3, 2002

Preity: The zing thing!

INDIATIMES MOVIES / May 3, 2002, 22:45 IST

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ANURADHA CHAUDHARY Preity Zinta, who recently won Walt Disney Childrens Award for her role in Dil Chahta Hai, talks about what makes her world go round...

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">Preity Zinta recently won Walt Disney Childrens Award for her role in Dil Chahta Hai. This bindaas girl opens up and talks about what makes her world go round... Dil Chahta Hai slalomed you to the big league. No one movie catapults you to the top. You have to do good work consistently. A whole load of movies have taken me up. If DCH had been my first movie, I wouldnâ€™t be at the top. The credit goes equally to Kya Kehna, Soldier, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke and Dil Chahta Hai. If I have to pick one movie that put the spotlight on me, it would be Kya Kehna. The response to Kya Kehna was something else. Dil Chahta Hai was a turning point in my career, no doubt. It was appreciated a lot in the western media. Because it gave an insight into the pysche of the urban Indain youth. By the way, I won Walt Disney Childrensâ€™ Award for the Best Actress in DCH. In terms of fan-following, it was Chori Chori Chupke Chupke that put me on the map. Is it true that youâ€™ve drastically cut down on your assignments? Not drastically but significantly. Though I must say that even earlier on I didnâ€™t sign movies indiscriminately. Right now, Iâ€™m doing Anil Sharmaâ€™s The Hero, Honey Iraniâ€™s next movie and Rakesh Roshanâ€™s Koi Mil Gaya. Only three movies a year from now on. Even thatâ€™s a lot. Thereâ€™s so much to life beyond the movies. I donâ€™t want life to pass me by. You wonâ€™t believe but Iâ€™ve refused so much work just to manage my holidays. I start going nuts if I donâ€™t go off somewhere. I come back a better human being. All fresh and raring to go. How come youâ€™re doing a movie like The Hero? Simple. I liked the role they offered me very much. Iâ€™ve had quite a few sittings with Anil Sharma. He told me, â€˜Preity, your sensibilities are different from mine. Iâ€™m getting an insight into your kind of audience through you.â€™ Iâ€™m also learning a lot from him. He gave me a bound script for the high-tech espionage movie. What do you see, when you see yourself on screen? I see myself going right sometimes, going wrong at times. A bad posture, occasionally. There are times when I see myself improving as an actress. Then I see certain things that Iâ€™ve tried out working alright and certain things going horribly wrong. And when that happens, I just cross my fingers and hope that no one else will notice. Do you regret not doing Lagaan? No. If I had done Lagaan, I wouldnâ€™t have been able to do Dil Chahta Hai. Anyway, if I had done the movie, I would have reminded the audience of Preity Zinta. Lagaan needed a Gracy Singh. She was brilliant in the film. Would you say youâ€™ve had a good run till now? Yeah. I have no reason to complain. If there ever has been a problem then I willingly admit that Iâ€™m partly to be blamed. The only thing that Iâ€™ll hold against the media is for linking Sanjay Dutt and me. How could they? That was complete rubbish. I was livid when I heard that. See, I donâ€™t lead a double life. Iâ€™m open about everything. I donâ€™t think I deserved this. Iâ€™ll never forgive whoever started this nonsense. I used to adore Sanjay as a child. To even think of him and me is ridiculous. </div> </div>

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