I discovered so much about myself as an actor
Preity Zinta, the lovely Bollywood actress known for her bubbly personality and radiant smile, has bagged the Silver Hugo Award for best actress at the Chicago International Film Festival 2008.
The auspicious award has been for her acting in Deepa Mehta’s film Heavan and Earth. The film is not the typical Bollywood flick with music, colour and extravagance but a story about a bride from India that marries a Canadian Indian and the woes of her struggling relationship full of abuse, neglect and domestic violence.
Priety said that many people in the Bollywood industry had deterred her from taking on the film, indicating to her that she was a big Bollywood star and shouldn’t be considering such films. However, she personally felt that she wanted the challenge to do this particular role and is now over the moon for winning the award too. Zinta said in a radio interview, ‘This is a film that is very close to my heart. It is a film that has no frills for me as an actor. It was a really difficult role, it tackles a subject like immigration and domestic violence, and this award coming is absolutely fantastic because its going to push the film forward.”
Priety was keen to emphasise that she always wanted to do a film that would make a difference and was not just based on entertainment value, especially because the film has no music, songs or dancing. Priety said during making the film, “I discovered so much about myself as an actor and so much about the craft.”
Zinta stated the movie has allowed her to step forward to cover a storyline that is brushed under the carpet. She felt the film would give the issue a certain platform for it to be noticed and recognised much more.
Preity had no idea that she was going to win this award, especially, since the film was not highly publicised or promoted by her as per the usual Bollywood promos. So, it’s recognised that this award has been given to her solely based on her acting talent and performance.
Desiblitz discovered that the film had warm reviews at the Toronto Film Festival and it inaugurates the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival in New York. Preity encourages everyone to see the film in order to acknowledge the reason why it was made and to raise awareness of this problem that exists in Desi communities.
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