Preity Zinta is an Indian film actress who is popular in bollywood

Preity Zinta is an Indian film actress. She has appeared in Hindi films of Bollywood, as well as Telugu, Punjabi and English language films. Preity Zinta is an Indian film actress who is popular in bollywood. She has made her acting debut with the movie Dil Se.. in 1998 opposite Shahrukh Khan followed by lead role in Soldier. This earned her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. She has written a series of columns for BBC News Online South Asia, is a social activist, a television presenter and a regular stage performer. She was seen judging Nach Baliye 7. Preity Zinta was born on 31 January 1975 in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. She has studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary boarding school in Shimla. As a student, she developed a love for literature, particularly the works of William Shakespeare and poetry. She enjoyed schoolwork and has received good grades. In her free time she played sports, especially basketball. After graduating from the boarding school at the age of 18, she enrolled at St. Bede's College, Shimla. She has graduated with an English honours degree and then started a graduate programme in psychology. She earned a postgraduate degree in criminal psychology, but later took up modelling.
Preity Zinta shot to fame as the refreshing, cool, wet model in the Liril commercial. She also modeled for Perk and her dimpled smile won the hearts of millions. Preity never thought she would be an actress. Kapoor saw her in the Liril commercial and liked her so much that he instantly decided that the next film he would announce would have her in the lead. However, 'Tara Rum Pum' never got made and is still pending since the director got very busy with his other projects.

But another offer soon came by, Kundan Shah's Kya Kehna (2000). Though the film was the first, Preity had actually begun shooting for her first release which was Mani Ratnam's Dil Se.. (1998). The film was a hit which won Preity accolades. Later Abbas-Mustan's Soldier (1998) that too was a hit at the box-office confirmed she was here to stay. Though Kya Kehna (2000) was her first film, but it released in 2000 and was the surprise hit of 2000.

Her role in Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002) was appreciated and liked by all and that has made her an actress to reckon with in Bollywood. Her screen presence, charm and down to earth nature has made her the favorite actress of almost all the directors and producers. With banners and films like Rakesh Roshan's Koi... Mil Gaya (2003) with 'Hrithik Roshan', Nikhil Advani's Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) starring Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Jaya Bhaduri, Farhan Akhtar's Lakshya (2004) with Hrithik Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan, Atul Agnihotri's Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha (2004) starring Salman Khan and Bhoomika Chawla, Yash Chopra's Veer-Zaara (2004) with Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji, Siddharth Anand's Salaam Namaste (2005) with Saif Ali Khan, and Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) with Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji, Preity has already made her place in the hearts of the public and also in Bollywood. She was born in a Hindu Rajput family of Rohru in Simla. Earlier, she planned to pursue English Honors, but later she changed her mind and decided to study Psychology. She graduated from St. Bedes College. In the beginning, she worked as a model and also did quite a number of commercials. She comes from a defense background. Her father Durganand Zinta was an Indian army officer. Preity lost her father in a car accident, when she was only thirteen years old. Her mother was also severely injured. She also has two brothers Deepankar Zinta and Manish Zinta. At present, Preity Zinta is having a relationship with Ness Wadia, the Bombay Dyeing heir. Well, every now and then, we do keep hearing rumors that the pair has split up. However, Preity Zinta always puts an end on these kinds of rumors. Infact, in a recently held award function, she was seen holding hands with him. Many a times, she is linked with different Bollywood stars, but Preity Zinta has always denied her relation. She got her first break in Kundan Shah's film 'Kya Kehna', which was released in the year 2000. Her next film 'Soldier' also got delayed. From this point of view, her debut film was Dil Se, in which her performance was simply superb. It was a major breakthrough in her life, which brought her the Filmfare Best Debut Award. Kya Kehna and Soldier were also quite popular. In Kya Kehna, she played the role of a teenage single mother. She did a wonderful job, which was well applauded. She came into limelight with her big hit movies. Thereafter, she was offered plenty of roles to perform. She was given the leading role of heroine to play in the film Dil Hai Tumhara. She was given a very different kind of role to play in the movie. It was a major milestone in Preity's career. Her movies Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Veer Zara and Salaam Namaste were super hit in the box office. Besides being a successful film actress, Preity Zinta is also a social activist, television show presenter and a stage performer, and has also written columns for BBC News Online South Asia. She owns a production company named PZNZ Media and co-owns IPL cricket team Kings XI Punjab along with her ex-beau business Ness Wadia. Preity is the daughter of Late Durganand Zinta, an Army Officer, and Nilprabha Zinta. She was born in Rohru in Simla district and has two brothers. A self-confessed tomboy, Zinta completed her education in Simla. She graduated with a degree in English, and later pursued her post-graduation in criminal psychology, but eventually took to modeling. Her first ads were for Perk chocolate and Liril soap.
Her first two films ‘Dil Se’ and ‘Soldier’ were well-received and earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. She proved her versatility by playing a single teenage mother in ‘Kya Kehna’, for which she was nominated for the Best Actress award. Her next film ‘Mission Kashmir’ was also successful, and was followed by Farhan Akhtar’s National Award-winning film ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. This was followed by a brief unsuccessful phase as her films like ‘Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’ and ‘Dil Hai Tumhara’ were not commercial earners.
Preity bounced back to success with major grossing films like ‘The Hero: Love Story of a Spy’, ‘Koi…Mil Gaya’ and ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’. The first was the most expensive Hindi film produced at that time, and despite being a commercially grossing film, it did not recover its costs. The next was a science fiction film which earned the Filmfare Award for Best Movie. For her performance in ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’, Preity received the Best Actress Award.
The bubbly actress played a TV journalist in Farhan Akhtar-produced ‘Lakshya’. The film received positive response from the critics. She then played the female lead in Yash Chopra’s love saga ‘Veer-Zaara’, which was the highest grossing film of the year both domestically and internationally. The film went on to win several major awards, and is considered as one of her milestone performances. Subsequent films like ‘Salaam Namaste’ and ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’ were also top grossers of their respective times.
After her commercial failures ‘Jaan-E-Mann’ and ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’, Preity Zinta played a struggling actress in Rituparno Ghosh’s English film ‘The Last Lear’, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007. Deepa Mehta’s social drama ‘Heaven on Earth’ starring Preity received a smashing response. She was honored with the Silver Hugo Best Actress Award at the International Film Festival in Chicago in 2008.
She has also been the anchor for television shows like ‘Guinness World Records- Ab India Todega’ and ‘Up Close & Personal with PZ’. Her upcoming films include ‘Ishkq in Paris’, which is her first home production, and Neerraj Pathak’s action comedy ‘Bhaiyyaji Superhitt’.
Preity Zinta has also been involved in social causes like AIDS awareness, blood donation, women empowerment, protests against female infanticide and human trafficking and welfare of widow and children. She is popular in the media as a straightforward person, and was the sole witness not to refrain from her statements in the 2003 Bharat Shah- Mafia case. She broke up with Ness Wadia, her business boyfriend of four years in 2009.