‘My mantra on set to actors has always been, ‘Feel… feel’.’
‘And Preity would say, ‘Feeling… feeling’.’

Photograph: Kind courtesy Preity Zinta/Instagram

She’s pretty, she’s chatty and she always manages to coax a smile out of you with her flashing dimples and her Insta ‘ting’.

Give her a Dil Se.. or a Dil Chahta Hai and she will sashay through these films with effortless easy.

But what makes Preity Zinta stand out in a crowd is a certain chutzpah that made her go beyond the conventional Bollywood heroine.

She fearlessly pushed the envelope, playing a teenage single mother in Kya Kehna, a streetwalker turned surrogate in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, a schizophrenic shrew in Armaan and a journalist covering the war in Lakshya.

In fact, just two years into the business, she played a rookie CBI officer who joins hands with an embittered, incarcerated criminal to stop a serial killer who is sacrificing young children in his quest for immortality in Tanuja Chandra‘s 1999 psychological horror thriller Sangarsh.

When the director learnt that Preity would be bringing on her 50h birthday on January 31, her instant reaction was, “Wow, would you believe that! Been so long since Sangharsh.”

Tanuja shares some memories with Rediff.com Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya from their journey together: “Ashutosh Rana’s cry was one of the most memorable as well as scariest parts of the film and Preity’s reaction to it was real. She let him shake her nerves completely, and that’s what I was looking for.”

What would you like to tell Preity on her 50th birthday?

Only good wishes to her for more adventures and fulfilling work.

IMAGE: Preity Zinta and Akshay Kumar in Sangharsh.

What convinced you that Preity, who was still a relative newcomer then, could pull off the complex and layered role of a police officer in Sangharsh? Were you impressed with her performances in earlier films?

I loved Preity in Dil Se.., it’s the first film of hers I watched. She was natural, vulnerable and adorable.

For me, as a director, it was an exciting prospect to see someone like this in a serious and dark film.

It was also exciting to have her with Akshay Kumar who was very different from her.

I went with my instinct, and I’m glad I did.

What was your brief to her? Did her degree in criminal psychology help her understand the character of Reet Oberoi better?

I hadn’t known about her background when I approached her but when Preity told me she had a degree in criminal psychology, I was pleasantly surprised and it felt doubly right to cast her.

It surely helped her understand the complex character she was playing as well as Akshay’s.

Reet is a young woman trying to make it in a male-dominated field, a woman with a wound in her past, but also someone who is ambitious and resilient.

Preity understood that and was not afraid to explore the depths of the character as well as portray a certain sweetness.

IMAGE: Ashutosh Rana, Akshay Kumar, Preity Zinta, Tanuja Chandra and Mahesh Bhatt chat before the film’s release.
‘Releases are always anxiety ridden, especially for the director, so don’t go by my ‘coolness’ in the picture,’ Tanuja says about this picture. Photograph: Kind courtesy Tanuja Chandra

Let’s flashback to her first scene in Sangharsh and your reaction to her first shot…

If I remember correctly — this, after all, is over 25 years ago — our first day of shoot for the film was in a very crowded meat market in Bhendi Bazaar (south Mumbai) with Preity.

A challenging location and almost impossible to control, but one of my favourite places to shoot in.

It was a tough day and we couldn’t stay beyond half the day due to massive crowds, but Preity managed very well.

I love the vibrant nature of real locations and don’t let the logistical nightmare to hold me back, and Preity followed my cue.

Given how terrifying he was, what was Preity’s reaction to Ashutosh Rana’s Lajja Shankar Pandey and his ‘ullu’ cry?
Did you ever discuss the performance years later and wonder if you could have done something differently?

That cry was one of the most memorable as well as scariest parts of the film and Preity’s reaction to it was real.

She let him shake her nerves completely, and that’s what I was looking for.

Reet is a courageous character but not one with an absence of fear.

Many years later however, when I was told that audiences often took Lajja Shankar Pandey to be transgender, I regretted that we didn’t make it clearer in the film that he was a man wearing a sari to perplex and fool people.

He isn’t a trans person at all.

IMAGE: Preity Zinta in Sangharsh.

One memory from the shoot that is reflective of the person Preity is?

I really can’t recall now… it was a physically, as well as mentally, tough shoot.

Akshay has always been fit but Preity too was quite tireless.

I remember asking for several takes often and Preity would do that would do them without complaint even in physically demanding scenes.

And Ashutosh never got bored of doing retakes.

But I would say in all honesty, I was the ‘last man standing’; constantly pushing for more from them.

My mantra on set to actors has always been, ‘Feel… feel.’

And Preity would say, ‘Feeling… feeling.’

What kind of films would you like to see her in now?

There is a lot of unusual work being done in OTT and it would be so nice to see her in a series.