Even while her home in Mumbai is being re-constructed, Preity Zinta is dreaming of building a house in Shimla. “I always wanted a family home in my home town. I’m now going to build a house there. The older one is in a locality that’s so crowded I don’t recognise it any more. Earlier it was just our house and lots of trees,” she shares. Preity has an ancestral land which she has been planning to use to build a dream house. “Now’s the time to do it. Build a farm house where my kids and my brother’s kids will grow up. It’s a little away from Shimla near the golf course. I want to make it completely eco-friendly. I’m also trying to buy an eco-friendly car. Look at the fumes in Mumbai.”
“Where does one go in Mumbai to relax? The other Sunday when I had a day off I had no place to go! Either you go to a restaurant or a movie. And it takes so long to get anywhere! It’s very frustrating. When I want to unwind I go out of the country. We need more entertainment and sports centers in Mumbai. You can’t have children and dogs in Mumbai. If I have children in Mumbai where do I stay with them? That’s why I miss my home town Shimla.”
Preity is looking at entirely refurbishing her life. “Last year I badly hurt myself on my back and pelvis. I’ve been working on myself. We actors are constantly hurting ourselves and neglecting our health. Look at how much Shah Rukh has gone through. And the other day when I dropped in to meet him on the set of Om Shanti Om I saw him with a six-pack. I was like… wow! I’ve seen him so unwell when we were shooting Kal Ho Na Ho. He’s very inspiring, and not just on screen.”
“After so many years of shooting abroad I’m finally working in India. I just shot Samir Karnik’s Mera Bharat Mahaan in Punjab. I came back all sunburnt,” she says. “This is probably the best time for me. Look at SRK in Chak De!. There’re no hard and fast rules about what I can do and can’t do. Strangely I started my career playing an unwed mother, a prostitute and a CBI trainee. Then I started doing much more commercial films. Now it’s time for me to do different kind of films. Working with Rituparno Ghosh and Jahnu Barua there was a lot to unlearn about acting. And it’s not as if I look at Last Lear or Har Pal as small films,” she reveals.
She’s currently shooting for Jahnu Barua’s second Hindi film Har Pal with Lilette Dubey and Shiney Ahuja. She adds, “With Har Pal, I’m having so much fun. We’ve already completed one schedule. The director Jahnu Barua has a great sense of humour. Though he’s very quiet, he knows what he wants. Isha is a pleasure to work with.” Then there’s Rituparno Ghosh. “I just love him. He’s too cute. He made feel so comfortable during Last Lear. Working with Mr Bachchan was a treat for me. Then I had Shefali Shah and Divya Dutta and Arjun Rampal.”
“I want to do the work that excites me. I’m not the same actress I used to be. I want to do at least one film every year that pushes the envelope.” Maybe the housewarming and wedding can be combined in Simla? “Ha, what if the house takes five years to make? I can’t wait that long to get married,” comes the retort.
