Preity Zinta describes Dubai Film Fest experience as 'Heaven on Earth'

Actor Preity Zinta's Last Lear was prominent at several international film fests and now the Deepa Mehta-directed Heaven on Earth , too, is doing its bit around the globe. Only recently, the movie was screened at the Dubai Film Festival (2008). "Such films give you creative satisfaction. You don't do it for the money or any other commercial aspect. You do films like Heaven On Earth simply because they are brilliant scripts and address an issue... You feel proud to be part of such movies," says actor Preity Zinta, who also attended the 'Cinema against Aids 2008' function at the Dubai fest.

About the reaction of the audiences there, Preity Zinta said it was 'encouraging'. "You get to meet people who are crazy about films. And it's great to talk films with them. Festivals give you a chance to be exposed to different cultures, and different forms of filmmaking," she said.

Apparently, Deepa Mehta gave Zinta very short notice, and was surprised that her actress even made it there. Mehta said, "I didn't expect to see Preity in Dubai at such a short notice. It was very sweet of her to come since Heaven On Earth is as much her film as mine." The Dubai Film Fest was a double celebration of sorts for Deepa, as her brother, Dilip Mehta's film The Forgotten Woman was also screened there.

Attended by the likes of Salma Hayek, Goldie Hawn, Nicolas Cage... this fest proved to a Heaven on Earth experience for all those who attended it!

Preity's phone panic!

The last few days have been traumatic for Preity Zinta's near and dear ones in India.

The actress who has been away for three months first for The Unforgettable concerts, and then the Toronto Film Festival, suddenly went missing last week. No one seemed to know where she was.

Filmmaker Deepa Mehta who was with Preity in Toronto was also clueless. "She left Toronto after winning accolades for her performance in my film (Heaven On Earth). After that, I haven't heard from her," Back home in Mumbai, no one seemed to know where Preity was. To top the panic, the actress didn't even show up in Mumbai on Monday as scheduled.

The panic ended on Tuesday when Preity re-surfaced with a startling tale. "My phone folded up. It shut down on me. All my numbers, important documents including details of my return ticket were on it. I had to miss my flight because I had no details. I had no way of getting in touch with anyone since all my numbers were on my phone. Even my mom had no way of contacting me. I had to call her from a pay phone," Preity said from Calgary just before leaving for Mumbai.

She continues, "My phone's now been sorted out. So's my ticket. I'm finally on my way back. I can't tell you how relieved I am. I have four back-to-back releases coming up."

Preity's troubles didn't end with the phone. "In Toronto I discovered that all the clothes I had brought for the Festival were too large for me. Don't ask me how. I had to go around stores in Toronto and pick up whatever I could get in my size."

Red, incidentally, is Preity's lucky colour. She bought a red dress for the screening of Heaven On Earth in Toronto. "And it worked. Because the audience really seemed to connect with the film and my character. I've had so many women coming up to me in Toronto telling me they've gone through domestic abuse. It makes me feel I've started something which I now need to carry forward," said Preity. "I have lots to attend to in Mumbai. I'm getting the Smita Patil Memorial award and I'm so excited."

Preity Zinta takes art route

Pretty girl Preity Zinta is changing tracks with a vengeance. With an obvious attempt at shedding away her bubbly tag, especially after the box office failure of her high profile films like JAAN-E-MANN and JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM, she has headed for art house cinema.

One may term her films as meaningful, parallel or offbeat cinema but the fact remains that each of her upcoming films is a far cry from the cute and effervescent image that she has built for herself over the years. Whether it was her initial stint with the likes of SOLDIER and KYA KEHNA or her recent crop of films like SALAAM NAMASTE, VEER ZAARA and KOI MIL GAYA, she was finding herself trapped in a particular brand of cinema.

2008 may just about manage to change it all where she is working on number of art/offbeat films. These are:

Har Pall (directed by Jahnu Barua)
Heroes (directed by Samir Karnik)
The Last Lear (directed by Rituparno Ghosh)
Heaven On Earth (directed by Deepa Mehta)

Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade News Network

Preity plays a 'bad' actress

Arshad Warsi and Preity Zinta share an identical predicament. They've to play 'bad' actors in their latest films. While in Anil Kapoor's production, Shortcut, Arshad plays bad actor, in Rituparno Ghosh's Last Lear Preity is cast as a bad actress.

That isn't the only problem the actress had to face. Preity had a very real problem on the sets of Jahnu Barua's Harr Pal. Pritam Chakraborty has done the music score. Every time someone mentioned his name she thought they were calling out to her, because Pritam is the name given to her by Bobby Deol.

Harr Pal has been one of Preity’s toughest roles ever. But the role of the Punjabi NRI wife in Deepa Mehta's Heaven On Earth has been her toughest yet. She's still carrying the invisible wounds of the battered wives' character. The shooting was wrapped up on Sunday.

Doing Rituparno Ghosh's Last Lear posed its own problems for Preity. She had never worn a sari or a bindi in her life. "Suddenly Ritu-da asked me to stick on bindis that were almost as large as my face. Initially, I was most reluctant. But then I surrendered completely to his vision. I'm actually looking pretty in Last Lear." Even the international critics have noticed. The reviews make a special mention of Preity.

In its review, Variety mentions, "It's an interesting paradox to watch a star like Zinta deliver a good performance as a woman who's widely known as a bad thespian."

Subash K Jha, Bollywood Hungama