An actress and a businesswoman, and it's safe to say that she’s successful in both professions. Preity was among the highest-paid actresses and a veritable superstar. She is such a fine actress that she's immortalized the characters played by her. Her cute dimpled smile added to that talent commanded nothing less than devotion from her fans.
Preity as a child was tomboyish as she spent time mostly with boys and used to get beaten for this. After her father’s accident, she got a bit reserved and didn’t make many friends in her school.
Preity’s father was a military man who taught her values like punctuality & discipline. He was the man who was behind her strong personality. A famous speech by Preity mentions his teaching of being an independent woman, and it empowers other women too.
He wanted her to have a good career, be financially independent, and have a mind of her own. This is why she kept her education above all. She was majoring in criminal psychology and was hoping for a career in Forensics to catch criminals.
When Preity was doing her graduation, her friend asked her to accompany him to a movie’s audition. So, she finished her exam, took a cab to pick him up & went with him. While he stood in the lines, she grabbed a corner to sit in and munched on some snacks.
Director Shekhar Kapur saw her there and asked her what she was going to do for him. She clarified that she wasn’t there for an audition. He grabbed her hand and took her to the mic, and told everyone that she’s a classic case of getting cold feet. He then asked her to perform something, and she managed some mambo-jumbo there.
Two weeks later, when she was on her way to Munich for further studies, she got a call for a movie. She thought if she went now, she’d have to share the room with someone. If she does one movie, she can make some money, and then she wouldn’t have to share the space. So she accepted the offer.
Though the film got shelved, she learned the acting craft on the sets of that movie. Shekhar talked about her potential to make it big in many interviews, so she got many offers. Her first two movies did exceptionally well, and she set a firm foot in the industry with those pictures.
While Preity was doing films that suited her, she was changing the way heroines were seen. She was tomboyish and lived by her father’s teachings, so she didn’t like doing movies where she’s playing a damsel in distress. She rather liked to fight the distress instead of waiting to be rescued. She didn’t like being objectified or shown as a sex symbol, and her roles and movies reflected that her character is a woman of substance.
Her first movie was on teenage pregnancy and unwed mothers. So she was able to start a conversation on sex education at that time. She showed she’s more interested in issue-based films.
Preity left the acting career in her prime when she felt the urge to change her path for some time. She invested in Kings XI Punjab with 20 crores, and still, people weren’t taking her seriously. People made comments such as “she’s here just for fun,” and this felt bad.
She wanted to be taken as a serious entrepreneur, so she left acting and devoted herself entirely to all the nooks of her business in cricket. When she got into the business, she realized she lacked skills, so she took a course at Harvard Business School. She learned a lot about it in her initial years, and today, she’s settled.
Preity Zinta is the actress who wasn’t afraid to give testimony against the Indian mafia Bharat Shah who financed her film Chori Chori chupke chupke. She stood by her statements that she received extortion threats during the shooting of that movie. Whereas other stars like Salman & Shahrukh proved to be hostile to the prosecution. She was awarded Godfrey’s Mind of Steel for this act.
Preity Zinta is a strong voice that has always spoken in favor of Women's Empowerment. She is a strong voice against women trafficking, female infanticide, and foeticide, etc. She’s the brand ambassador of the Loomba Trust, which works for the welfare of widows and their children.
On her 34th birthday, she adopted 34 girls from the Mother Miracle Orphanage in Rishikesh. She supports their education, food, and clothing responsibilities. She has also been part of several national and international HIV AIDS awareness drives.
Preity Zinta is a woman of substance, just like the characters she plays. Her unmatchable acting skills and talent shows that she deserves the fandom she enjoys. Despite the pressures from society & the industry, she has managed to stay above them and have a fruitful career.
