Preity is upset!

Preity Zinta is hopping mad.

A report in this newspaper on an alleged and imminent break-up in her romance with the dashing Ness Wadia has made her furious. That, coupled with loose talk that she was more than friendly during the IPL with cricketer Yuvraj Singh, the captain of her King’s XI Punjab team, has made the lovely Bollywood actress see red. And turn red. I watched her cheeks glow with indignation, dark eyes flashing, as she tore into the allegations over a coffee with me that never came because the cafe’s espresso machine broke down.

“I’m tired of silly rumours,” snapped Preity, “they mar my reputation for being me, it’s a heavy price to pay for being normal. Just because I’m female doesn’t give anybody the right to take that respect away from me. I want to be respected in my work. I earned it in my ten years with films. I now demand it in sports.”

She, of course, never talks about her personal life. So I stuck to cricket. “My team from coach down to junior most player, is like my family,” stated Preity, “when I stand with them on the field, win or lose, it’s personal... but what I feel is divided between the whole team, its not just for the captain. It’s a rush of adrenaline when you’re rocking. You go under the table when you’re not. But it’s collective energy. The same thing’s in a film. A group of people put mind, heart and hard work to create a beautiful film. Only with cricket, it’s instant karma.
A good moment is a six. A bad moment is a wicket.” She chose this team because she comes from the North (“Mr Ambani had the maximum money — he bid for Mumbai”), from Himachal, and the team carried the combined culture of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal... “It is a vibrant culture, this is a proud community, I knew we would always be supported by the people. Our motto was ‘Live Punjabi, Play Punjabi’. And the people just go out and do it. There is an aggression about them, but it’s a happy and positive aggression. Plus, the stadium is the one of best in the country. What facilities... !”

But now the IPL season is over, and cricket mercifully has restored Preity back to Bollywood, to films, and the Bachchan’s world tour for which she is practising her steps with the “extremely talented” Shiamak Davar. The tour will keep Preity on the road for two months.

“It’s like 50 days,” she told me, “and I’ll be going everywhere, to Toronto, London, Trinidad, LA, Chicago, Houston, Dallas... no, not Dallas, San Francisco, a couple of other places, Europe... where in Europe? Hmmnn, England.” She’s done this sort of thing before, yes, she’s been on Temptations, the most successful tour of all time, with Shah Rukh Khan, Saif, Arjun Rampal, Rani Mukherji and Priyanka Chopra.

“This time, it’s with the Bachchans. They, Riteish Deshmukh and me are the core group. Shilpa Shetty comes on in London, MD (that’s Madhuri Dixit) everywhere in the US, Akshay Kumar in Toronto... they are all guest stars.” Can she dance, I asked. “Oh yeah, when I’m required to,” replied Preity. “Did you see Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, it had a lot of dancing in that.” And she’s back to films, as well, she’s just finished dubbing for Heroes and Har Pal. Deepa Mehta’s Heaven On Earth is slated for release at the end of this year. And the English film The Last Lear.“I don’t know when that’s coming,” she said shaking her head.

Now here’s a bit of news for you. Preity Zinta wants to join Bollywood’s bloggers Aamir Khan and Amitabh
Bachchan. “Instead of not giving interviews to the press and having them printed, I may as well write about myself,” she said sarcastically. “When an actor does something wrong, the press ruins them, but what happens when a journo does wrong? The power of the pen goes all across the world, how do I counter that?”

I had no answer. I asked, instead, if she had gone onto Bachchan’s and Aamir’s blogs. “No,” she replied. Why not? “Because I can meet them whenever I want! But I’d be quite happy writing a blog and having people read it.” Was she technically savvy to do that? “If you have the intent to do anything in life — you can do it,” she said.

“And you know what’ll be the best thing about my blog? The section called Pay Back Time! It’ll be for all journalists who did bogus interviews of me.” I offered my hand, and apologies, for any embarrassment and hurt our report might have caused her professionally and personally. She shook it with surprising strength, offering to pay for the coffee I never had.