Browsing: Preity Zinta

She is Bollywood’s Sweetheart for everyone in the cinema halls, from front benchers to the elite. But don’t let those dimples fool you – Preity Zinta is one of the smartest women in Bollywood who takes on tough challenges, is fearlessly outspoken and is the proud co-owner of the IPL Kings XI Punjab, along with ex-boy friend industrialist Ness Wadia.

The two are very much in the news, due to the FIR lodged by Preity Zinta, accusing Ness Wadia of molestation. The media is agog with all the details. While all that works itself out, I thought I’d share a chat I had with her some years back.

“I’ve been watching its influence grow and expand. We now educate children of widows in every one of India’s 29 states,” says Cherie Blair, president of the Loomba Foundation.
L. to R: Cilla Black, Raj Loomba, Cherie Blair, Preity Zinta, Veena Loomba and Joanna Lumley in New York to raise funds for widows at the Loomba Foundation dinner. (Photo: Jonathan Elderfield)

She’s made Madhur Jaffrey, Preity Zinta, Yoko Ono and even Cherie Blair, the former First Lady of Britain, taste her cakes. She says with a smile, “Preity Zinta called them ‘yummy’; Yoko Ono said ‘Nice cupcakes’ and Cherie Blair said, ‘These are great!’”
Indeed, if Parul Patel has a mission in life, it’s to get a cupcake inside you!
(Parul offers a tasting to Britain’s former First Lady, Cherie Blair, at a fundraiser)

For all those who’ve been following the real life drama of the release of ‘My Name is Khan’ it will be a relief to know that there’s a happy ending to this blockbuster. After more cliffhangers than the Himalayas, the film finally got to open in theaters across Mumbai and was seen by thousands of people. ‘My Name is Khan’ is an intriguing example of how sometimes reel and real life intersect in this major metropolis.

A movie about racial profiling made by a Muslim man, albeit a Bollywood superhero, itself became a vehicle for racial profiling by the Shiv Sena which sent its army of believers out to threaten and ransack. Well, the people of Mumbai came through, overwhelmingly showing that no one group has the monopoly to speak for the millions in this big, cosmopolitan city.

I have a new respect for Twitter since I started following Bollywood celebs – it’s the democracy of interaction and the immediacy of hearing the news from the horse’s mouth without the intervention of gossip magazines. The complete lack of punctuation and slaphappy grammar makes it even more laid back and buddy-like.

She may have thousands of fans but Bollywood star Preity Zinta is a diehard fan of – New York City!

She comes in to New York so often that it’s like a second home to her. She says, “It is my favorite city in the world because a) it’s one city that never sleeps. b) Its a city that can swallow you and you can disappear in it, which is fantastic. c) It’s so diverse and every time I come back so many things have changed about it.”

Are you LinkedIn? Do you Twitter? Do you Youtube? Indian-Americans are a growing part of the social networking phenomenon that is sweeping the world.

The crowds were as thrilled to see Abhishek and Ash together as if they had done the matchmaking themselves, and they erupted into cheers when Aishwarya said, “New York has special significance in my life – this is where Abhishek proposed to me! It will always remain very, very special to me.”