Age, Biography, and Wiki
Preity Zinta was born on January 31, 1975, into an Army family. Her early life was marked by frequent moves due to her father's military career. She rose to fame with her debut in the film "Dil Se" and has since appeared in numerous successful films like "Kal Ho Naa Ho," "Veer-Zaara," and "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna." Her biography is a testament to her talent and perseverance in the entertainment industry. You can find more detailed information about her life and career on her Wikipedia page.
| Occupation | Actress |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 31 January 1975 |
| Age | 50 Years |
| Birth Place | Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India |
| Horoscope | Aquarius |
| Country | India |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Preity Zinta is known for her slender yet athletic build. However, specific details about her height and weight are not consistently documented across various sources.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Preity Zinta is married to Gene Goodenough, an American financier. The couple resides in Los Angeles, California, and is often seen supporting each other at various events.
Preity G. Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress primarily known for her work in Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English honours and criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in Dil Se.. in 1998, followed by a role in Soldier in the same year. These performances earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, and she was later recognised for her role as a teenage single mother in Kya Kehna (2000). She established a career as a leading Hindi film actress of the decade with a variety of character types. Her roles, often deemed culturally defiant, along with her unconventional screen persona won her recognition and several accolades.
Her father, Durganand Zinta, was an officer in the Indian Army. He died in a car accident when she was thirteen; the accident also involved her mother, Nilprabha, who was severely injured and consequently remained bedridden for two years. Zinta called the tragic accident and her father's death a significant turning point in her life, which forced her to mature rapidly. She has two brothers; Deepankar and Manish, a year older and a year younger, respectively. Deepankar is a commissioned officer in the Indian Army, while Manish lives in California.
Zinta, who describes herself as having been a tomboy as a child, has emphasised her father's military background as having given her a lasting impression on how family life was to be conducted. He asserted the importance of discipline and punctuality to the children. She studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary boarding school in Shimla. Although she confesses to loneliness in the boarding school, she noted that it was compensated by her finding a "...perfect set of friends" there. As a student, she developed a love for literature, particularly the works of William Shakespeare and poetry. According to Zinta, she enjoyed schoolwork and received good grades; in her free time she played sports, especially basketball.
Zinta's first role in 2000 was in the drama Kya Kehna, which exceeded expectations to emerge a major box-office success. The film addressed themes of single parenthood and teenage pregnancy, and gained Zinta wider recognition from the public as well as film critics. Her portrayal of Priya Bakshi, a teenage single mother who fights social prejudice, earned her several award nominations, including her first nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare Awards. Anupama Chopra from India Today reported that Zinta belonged to a new breed of Hindi film actors that breaks away from character stereotypes. Further positive feedback came her way that year for her starring role in the romantic comedy Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega. She next appeared alongside Sanjay Dutt and Hrithik Roshan in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's drama Mission Kashmir (2000). Set in the valley of Kashmir during the Indo-Pakistani conflicts, the film dealt with the topic of terrorism and crime; it was an economic success, becoming the year's third-highest-grossing release in India. Zinta's role was that of Sufiya Parvez, a TV reporter and Roshan's childhood love. A review in The Hindu noted her for lending colour to an otherwise serious subject matter, and she shared similar sentiments about the character, citing its positive nature within the dark film as having sparked her interest in the part.
In 2001, Zinta was paired with Sunny Deol in the action film Farz. Her role was dismissed by critics, and the film failed commercially. Abbas–Mustan's family drama Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was released later that year after a one-year delay due to the trial of producer Bharat Shah and opened to a wide audience. One of the first Hindi films to address the controversial issue of surrogate childbirth, it starred Zinta as Madhubala, a golden-hearted prostitute hired as a surrogate mother. Initially reluctant to play the part, she eventually accepted it at the directors' persuasion and, to prepare for it, visited several bars and nightclubs at Mumbai's red-light areas to study the lingo and mannerisms of sex-workers. Reviews of the film were varied, but critics singled out Zinta for praise. She received a second Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Filmfare Awards for her performance, of which reviewer Sukanya Verma wrote: "Preity Zinta, who clearly has the meatiest part of all, makes the best of it. Her transformation from the cocky and unabashed prostitute to a sensitive and warm person is amazingly believable."
She next starred in Honey Irani's directorial debut, Armaan; the drama is set in a hospital and follows the travails of its personnel and its principal, Dr. Akash (Anil Kapoor), who struggles arduously to sustain the institution financially and enters into a marriage of convenience to save it. Zinta played Akash's egocentric, excessively possessive and capricious wife Sonia Kapoor, a role written specially for her and which she considered her best to that point. The film received predominantly positive reviews, and Zinta was particularly praised. Khalid Mohamed called her a "peppy scene-stealer, achieving her manic mood swings dexterously", and Vinayak Chakravorty of Hindustan Times concluded that she "takes over the script and, indeed, the film" with "a brilliant act". For her performance, she received nominations for Best Performance in a Negative Role at different award ceremonies, including Filmfare.
Zinta received further success in 2006, starring in Karan Johar's drama Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan, and Amitabh Bachchan. The film became one of the biggest box-office hits in India, earning inr 635000000, and grossed over inr 496000000 abroadthe biggest Bollywood success of all-time in the overseas market up until then. It was Zinta's fourth overseas top-earner in four consecutive years. Revolving around two unhappily married couples in New York, the film featured Zinta as Rhea Saran, an ambitious fashion magazine editor whose husband begins an adulterous affair with a family acquaintance. She described the part as an attempt to shed her vivacious public image. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna polarised critics, but The Indian Express approved of Zinta's effort, noting her for having "walked with poise, sat with grace, smiled with composure and spoken with calmness". Other reviews questioned the limited length of her role. In later years, Filmfare and Verve lauded the character for breaking stereotypes of screen portrayals of married women in Hindi films.
Following the failure of two of her commercial releases, Zinta decided to venture into art films, a movement of neo-realistic films known in India as parallel cinema. She acted alongside Amitabh Bachchan in her first English-language film, Rituparno Ghosh's film-within-a-film drama The Last Lear (2007). Zinta played Shabnam, a struggling film actress working on a new project opposite Shakespearean actor Harish Mishra (Bachchan) in the midst of a turbulent relationship with her possessive husband. The film premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival and was received well. Later reviews in India were approving, with Rajeev Masand writing that she "gets through her scenes competently, never allowing her cute-as-a-button image to take away from the impact she makes here as a conflicted, mature woman". Sukanya Verma called Zinta "palpably vulnerable" but lamented the English dialogue, finding it distracting "from the seriousness of the situation". The Last Lear was named the Best English Film at the 55th National Film Awards. Initially dismissive of art films, Zinta eventually spoke positively of her experiment with the genre, confessing, "I did think with art films that they don't pay you, they don't feed you, but I was wrong, and I'm so happy to be here."
Following a five-year sabbatical, Zinta starred opposite Sunny Deol as an aggressive Varanasi-based wife in Neeraj Pathak's action comedy Bhaiaji Superhit (2018). Ajit Duara of Open magazine called the film a "rude, sexist, and completely mixed-up farce" and bemoaned that the "once vivacious [Zinta] appears completely disinterested in her surroundings and in her co-actors". In 2020, Zinta appeared alongside Vir Das in an episode of the American sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, titled "The Magic Motor Inn"; she was set to reprise her role in a spin-off series, centered around her character's family, but it eventually did not materialise.
In 2007, as part of the NDTV show Jai Jawan, Zinta visited Hisar, Haryana, where she spent a day at the army training base to boost the morale of the jawan troops and met children with disabilities at a special school maintained by the army. In August, along with Mumbai-based artist Gurcharan Singh, Zinta painted for the cause of street children for the non-governmental organisation Khushi. In December she joined the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to curb human trafficking in India. She spoke on behalf of awareness against the practice, the need for protection and rehabilitation for those rescued from it, and punishment for perpetrators. In 2009, on her 34th birthday, Zinta adopted 34 girls from the Mother Miracle orphanage in Rishikesh and took the responsibility of financially supporting their education, food and clothing. She expressed her excitement at doing so and recounted her full commitment to their upbringing.
In January 2010 Zinta was appointed the brand ambassador of The Loomba Trust, an organisation that works for the welfare of widows and their children. She said, having lost her father at thirteen, she could relate to the problems faced by widowed women. Later in the year, she joined the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) as their Goodwill Ambassador in India, to promote public awareness on HIV prevention, treatment and support, with emphasis on women and children, and combat discrimination against it. Speaking of her appointment, Zinta expressed hope to be "the voice for the voiceless" and bring about a "transformation in the minds of people" through collaborative work. In October 2010 Zinta was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of East London. It was awarded in honour of both her cultural contribution and her humanitarian work, with the citation describing her as "an international actress, pioneering star of Hindi cinema and devoted humanitarian. Preity has carved a path for women to follow."
Tabloids have often linked Zinta romantically with other Bollywood stars, but she has strongly denied any such rumours. In 2000, Zinta began dating model Marc Robinson. They separated the following year, and according to Zinta remained on good terms. Zinta dated the Bombay Dyeing heir, businessman Ness Wadia from February 2005 until May 2009. Their relationship was often reported on by the media, with frequent speculation about an engagement or a break-up. On 13 June 2014, Zinta filed a complaint with the Mumbai police against Ness Wadia alleging he had molested, threatened, and abused her at an IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 30 May. Wadia denied the allegations. In 2018, the Bombay High Court quashed this complaint after the issue was amicably settled.
On 29 February 2016, Zinta married her American partner Gene Goodenough at a private ceremony in Los Angeles. Goodenough is Senior Vice-president for Finance at NLine Energy, a US-based hydroelectric power company. Zinta moved to Los Angeles following the marriage; she visits India on a frequent basis. In 2021, she and her husband became parents to twins, a boy and a girl, through surrogacy.
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| Husband | Gene Goodenough (m. 2016) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2023, Preity Zinta's net worth is estimated to be around $30 million, which is approximately ₹183 crore. Her income comes from a variety of sources, including her acting career, business investments, brand endorsements, and her share in the IPL team, Punjab Kings. She reportedly charges about ₹1.5 crore for each brand endorsement, leveraging her popularity and influence.
Career, Business, and Investments
Preity Zinta's career in Bollywood has been marked by her versatility and talent, with films like "Kya Kehna," "Lakshya," and "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" showcasing her acting prowess. Beyond acting, she has made significant investments in business ventures. Notably, she co-owns the Punjab Kings IPL team, which has been a profitable venture and a testament to her business acumen. Her real estate holdings include luxury properties in Mumbai, Shimla, and Los Angeles.
Zinta is also a social activist, television presenter and stage performer. Between 2004 and 2005, she wrote a series of columns for BBC News Online South Asia. She is the founder of the production company PZNZ Media, a co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Punjab Kings since 2008, and the owner of the South-African T20 Global League cricket team Stellenbosch Kings since 2017. Zinta is known in the Indian media for publicly speaking her mind and consequently has sparked the occasional controversy. These controversies include her being the sole witness not to retract in court her earlier statements against the Indian mafia during the 2004 Bharat Shah case, for which she was awarded the Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Award.
In 1998, Zinta met Shekhar Kapur when she accompanied a friend to an audition in Mumbai and was asked if she would audition too. Upon seeing her audition, Kapur insisted that she become an actress. She was originally scheduled to make her screen debut in Kapur's Tara Rum Pum Pum opposite Hrithik Roshan, but the filming was cancelled. She reminisced the experience: "I began to recognise the power of destiny. I had no intention ever to be an actress." Kapur later recommended her for director Mani Ratnam's Dil Se.. (1998), a romantic thriller about a terrorist group in New Delhi. Zinta often recalls that when she joined the film industry her friends teased her that she would typically "wear white saris and dance in the rain", thereby motivating her to seek unconventional parts.
Zinta next acted in two Telugu films, Premante Idera (1998) and Raja Kumarudu (1999). She followed with the leading role in Sangharsh, a 1999 thriller directed by Tanuja Chandra and written by Mahesh Bhatt. Zinta portrayed Reet Oberoi, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer who falls in love with a captured killer played by Akshay Kumar. Having been impressed with Zinta's work in Dil Se.., Chandra approached her for the part after several leading actresses had refused the offer, which Zinta viewed as an opportunity to expand her range. Sangharsh was not a box-office success, although Zinta's performance received favourable comments by critics. An article published by The Tribune described her performance as "an amazing act" in an "intense film", documenting her career path thus far with the observation: "She wowed the audiences with her cameo in Dil Se.., then she zapped the viewers with her sensuality in Soldier and now Preity Zinta is all set to shock everybody with her stark performance [in Sangharsh]." Subhash K. Jha reflected in 2013 that Sangharsh marked a rare occasion in Hindi cinema at the time where a top male star played a secondary role to the leading lady.
In 2004, Zinta played TV journalist Romila Dutta in Farhan Akhtar's war drama Lakshya, alongside Hrithik Roshan. The film is based on the historical events of the 1999 Kargil War, and Zinta's character is modelled after Barkha Dutt, the only female reporter who covered the conflict. She called it the toughest film she had worked on and said it made her respect journalists. To provide an accurate portrayal, she watched a number of Dutt's television shows and read books on the conflict. The film was a critical success, yet her performance received mixed reviews; Namrata Joshi of Outlook likened her to "a teenybopper trying to do a TV news reading skit for her college fest", and Rediff.com's Rajeev Pai observed that despite a good part, she only "does a fairly decent job of it without ever being spectacular". Lakshya failed to attract an audience, grossing inr 235600000 against its inr 330000000 budget.
Following Heaven on Earth, Zinta took a two-year sabbatical from films, later explaining that she had chosen to focus on her work with her cricket team. In 2011, she launched her own production company, PZNZ Media. Two years later and following numerous delays, she starred in her first film under the banner – the Prem Raj-directed romantic comedy Ishkq in Paris, which she also co-wrote. An Indo-French collaboration, the film saw Zinta as a half-Indian half-French Parisian woman alongside Rhehan Malliek and Isabelle Adjani. Zinta's role required her to learn French and follow a strict diet and fitness regime, for which she hired the services of celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson. Whilst the film bombed at the box office and received mostly negative reviews, Zinta's performance attracted a mixed critical reception. Sonia Chopra of Sify called her "hugely likeable", and added that she is a "good actress, astute producer and... writer". Shilpa Jamkhandikar from Deccan Herald, critical of both the film and Zinta's work, concluded a scathing review by calling it "a mediocre film, one that was supposed to showcase one of our favourite leading ladies, but instead just shows us what a shadow of her past she's become".
In 2011, Zinta made her television debut as the host of the show Guinness World Records – Ab India Todega on Colors Channel. An Indian version of Guinness Book of World Records, the show premiered on 18 March to an audience measurement of 3.3 rating points, which made it occupy the seventh position on the chart of celebrity-driven reality shows on Hindi entertainment channels. In a four-star review for Hindustan Times, critic Rachana Dubey wrote, "Preity is a riot. She's vivacious and knows exactly when she needs to be serious and when she can crack jokes." Later that year Zinta started hosting the celebrity-based chat show Up Close & Personal with PZ, shot at her own penthouse in Mumbai and broadcast on the newly launched channel UTV Stars. The first episode aired on 3 September. In 2015, Zinta featured as a talent judge for the seventh season of the dance reality show Nach Baliye.
During her years in the film industry, Zinta has been involved with different charitable organisations and has particularly supported women's causes in India, for instance protesting against female infanticide. She has also participated in AIDS awareness drives and campaigns to clean up Mumbai.
Along with Ness Wadia, Mohit Burman and others, Zinta acquired ownership rights in 2008 for the Mohali-based Twenty20 cricket team of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The group paid $76million for the franchise and named the team Kings XI Punjab (it was renamed Punjab Kings in 2021). Until 2009, Zinta was the only woman to own an IPL team, and was the league's youngest owner. She has been involved with launching ticket sales and promoting the team. She said, "My involvement with the team is total. I am extremely passionate about our team and I do believe that I am the team's good luck factor, so I want to be there for everything." In September 2017, she became the owner of the Stellenbosch Kings franchise team of South Africa's Mzansi Super League. Further business expansion took place in 2021 as Zinta and her Punjab Kings partners bought Saint Lucia's representative team in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which was rebranded as Saint Lucia Kings.
The media have cited her characteristic dimple as her trademark. At the beginning of her career, the press often described her as having a vivacious personality and a bubbly, outgoing persona, an image she had confessed to disliking. According to film critic Sukanya Verma, Zinta's energetic nature extends from her real life into her screen appearances and is an integral part of her technique. Discussing Hindi film actresses and their flair for comedy, Verma wrote of Zinta: "What can you say about an actress who giggles non-stop in a tone that is anything but prim and propah? She is carefree. She is animated. She talks non-stop. She laughs all the time. She has a chilled out sense of humour. And a tomboyish streak too. Preity Zinta is all that and more. All this greatly contributes to her style of acting."
Zinta is one of the best-known celebrities in India; at her career peak she was one of Hindi cinema's most celebrated stars and was acknowledged for having managed a career without any traditional assistance or family relations in the film industry. She featured in Box Office India's top actress listing for seven years and ranked first for two consecutive years (2003–2004). In 2003, Zinta appeared in the number one spot on Rediff.com's "Top Bollywood Female Stars". She was ranked second for the following three years. She has been featured frequently on other Rediff.com lists, including "Bollywood's Most Beautiful Actresses", "Bollywood's Best Dressed Women" and "Women of Many Faces". Between 2006 and 2008 Zinta made three consecutive appearances at the Cannes Film Festival. At first she attended the 2006 Film Festival along with filmmaker Karan Johar to represent the Hindi film industry and promote Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, returning in later years as the brand ambassador of Chopard, the maker of luxury watches and jewellery.
Social Network
Preity Zinta maintains an active presence on social media platforms, where she engages with her fans and shares updates about her personal and professional life.
Zinta's career surged significantly in 2003 as she was the lead in India's three highest-grossing films of the year: The Hero: Love Story of a Spy, Koi... Mil Gaya and Kal Ho Naa Ho. The Hero, co-starring Sunny Deol and Priyanka Chopra, is an action drama about a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) secret agent on a mission to gather intelligence about terrorist activity from across the border of Kashmir. Zinta played the part of Reshma, a Kashmiri villager who falls in love with the agent and becomes part of this network. The film, involving stunts never seen before in the cinematic history of Bollywood, became the most expensive Hindi film ever produced at the time. The third-highest-grossing film of the year, it was labelled a disappointment against its high production costs.
For the lead part in his cross-border romance Veer-Zaara (2004), Yash Chopra was looking for an actress whose "look and personality could be transformed". Having identified this opportunity in Zinta, who was mostly known for playing westernised characters, he cast her in the title role of Zaara Haayat Khan, a feisty Pakistani woman whose love story with Indian officer Veer Pratap Singh (Shah Rukh Khan) spans three decades amid trials and tribulations. Highly anticipated pre-release, the film had a strong international release, including a screening at the Berlin International Film Festival, and was named Best Film at major Indian award functions. List of awards received by Veer-Zaara:
In the same year she played the leading role of Chand in Deepa Mehta's Canadian film Heaven on Earth, a Punjabi-language mystical drama based on the true story of a young Indian woman who, after an arranged marriage to a non-resident Indian man from Canada, migrates to Toronto and becomes a victim of severe domestic abuse. Zinta described Mehta as one director she was longing to work with to fulfill her desire for "a new kind of acting challenge". To prepare for the part, she studied extensively the subject of domestic violence and took a crash course in Punjabi, a language that was totally alien to her. She confessed to not being able to emotionally disconnect from the part during the making of the film: "I never knew a character would affect me so deeply. I've become completely withdrawn and introspective... I can't snap out of the character." She eventually called it her most challenging project, as it helped her "shed everything that Preity Zinta was about". Heaven on Earth was first screened at several film festivals and garnered career-best reviews for Zinta. Reviews of Heaven on Earth in India:
In 2004, Zinta joined a group of South Asian commentators for BBC News Online. She expressed joy at participating in the project, saying, "I am pretty outspoken and have my own view on every subject. So it will be a good platform for me to air my views." Her first column, "The changing face of Bollywood", published in January 2004, discussed the evolution of Bollywood in the past decade. The column became one of the site's ten most read stories of the day. In her second column, "Odds stacked against Indian women", Zinta analysed the eve teasing phenomenon in India, and criticised those who practice it. She wrote, "Incidents like these take away a woman's dignity, her space and her freedom... why the state is so helpless in protecting the women. Why should women feel unsafe in a country which had an internationally revered woman prime minister?" The column caught the attention of readers worldwide, and she received thousands of e-mails about it. It was applauded particularly by women for its stand against abuse of Indian women. Her third column, "The darkness that all actors fear", was a more personal column and dealt with her stardom, fans, insecurity and fears as an actor. Her fourth and final column, titled "Facing death in Sri Lanka and Thailand", described her two near-death experiences in late 2004.
On 25 February 2025, Zinta faced a major backlash from the Indian National Congress, after the party posted on their X(formerly Twitter) handle about an ₹18 crore loan written off from a co-operative bank and had handed over her social media accounts to the Bharatiya Janata Party. In response, Zinta retaliated by tweeting "I operate my social media accounts my self and shame on you for promoting FAKE NEWS! No one wrote off anything or any loan for me." The tweet was subsequently labelled as fake. The fake news came days after Zinta express frustration about cynicism from the nation stating that "If you appreciate your PM then you are a bhakt(follower) & god forbid, if you are a proud Hindu or Indian then you are an Andh Bhakt (blind follower)".
In September 2006 the UK magazine Eastern Eye ranked her among "Asia's Sexiest Women". In 2010, Time magazine selected her as one of the candidates for its list of the world's 100 most influential people. She was the only Indian actress nominated for the poll and eventually did not make it to the final list, ranked at 144. This was followed, however, by a marked period of decline in her popularity when she restricted her work in films, which was further decreased with the debacle of her self-produced comeback vehicle. Film journalists like Khalid Mohamed and Subhash K. Jha have written columns in which they lament her absence from the movies and encourage her to return to acting.
Education
Preity Zinta pursued higher education in psychology from St. Bede's College in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. She later moved to Delhi to pursue a postgraduate degree in criminal psychology from the University of Delhi. However, she did not complete her postgraduate studies, opting instead to pursue a career in modeling and acting.
After her schooling at Convent of Jesus and Mary, Zinta enrolled at St. Bede's College in Shimla, an affiliated college of Himachal Pradesh University. She 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. Zinta's first television commercial was for Perk chocolates, the result of a chance meeting with a director at a friend's birthday party in 1996. The director persuaded Zinta to audition for the spot, and she was selected. Afterwards, she appeared in other catalogues and commercials, including one for the soap Liril.
Zinta commenced shooting for Kundan Shah's Kya Kehna, whose release was delayed until 2000. The delay of another film, Soldier (1998), meant that her first release was Dil Se.. opposite Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala. She was introduced as Preeti Nair, a middle-class Delhi girl and Khan's fiancée. The film was considered an unusual launch for a newcomer, as her role called for only twenty minutes of screen time. However, she was eventually noticed for her role, particularly for the forthright character she played. Her scene with Khan, in which she asked him, "Are you a virgin?", became well-known, and her portrayal earned her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Khalid Mohamed of Bombay Talkies said that she "radiates confidence and spunk even if she's given just scraps of footage". The film did not attract a wide audience in India but was the first Hindi film to enter the UK's top 10 box-office charts. Zinta's second release of 1998 was Abbas–Mustan-directed action-drama Soldier, one of the biggest commercial hits of the year. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for her performance in both Dil Se.. and Soldier.
* With revenues of over inr 940000000, it was that year's top-grossing Hindi film both in India and abroad. Zinta's part required her to master the fine nuances of the Urdu language. Though excited at first, she later "got knots in her stomach" worrying about her performance, but Chopra assured her. Her work resulted in a fourth Filmfare Best Actress nomination, among others. Jitesh Pillai wrote of her "tremendous restraint", and Avijit Ghosh of The Telegraph likewise believed she had delivered her most nuanced performance. Derek Elley of Variety hailed her as "the most interesting young actress of her generation". Veer-Zaara was Zinta's second highest-grossing film and third major success in two consecutive years.
* With revenues of over inr 940000000, it was that year's top-grossing Hindi film both in India and abroad. Zinta's part required her to master the fine nuances of the Urdu language. Though excited at first, she later "got knots in her stomach" worrying about her performance, but Chopra assured her. Her work resulted in a fourth Filmfare Best Actress nomination, among others. Jitesh Pillai wrote of her "tremendous restraint", and Avijit Ghosh of The Telegraph likewise believed she had delivered her most nuanced performance. Derek Elley of Variety hailed her as "the most interesting young actress of her generation". Veer-Zaara was Zinta's second highest-grossing film and third major success in two consecutive years.
* With revenues of over inr 940000000, it was that year's top-grossing Hindi film both in India and abroad. Zinta's part required her to master the fine nuances of the Urdu language. Though excited at first, she later "got knots in her stomach" worrying about her performance, but Chopra assured her. Her work resulted in a fourth Filmfare Best Actress nomination, among others. Jitesh Pillai wrote of her "tremendous restraint", and Avijit Ghosh of The Telegraph likewise believed she had delivered her most nuanced performance. Derek Elley of Variety hailed her as "the most interesting young actress of her generation". Veer-Zaara was Zinta's second highest-grossing film and third major success in two consecutive years.
* With revenues of over inr 940000000, it was that year's top-grossing Hindi film both in India and abroad. Zinta's part required her to master the fine nuances of the Urdu language. Though excited at first, she later "got knots in her stomach" worrying about her performance, but Chopra assured her. Her work resulted in a fourth Filmfare Best Actress nomination, among others. Jitesh Pillai wrote of her "tremendous restraint", and Avijit Ghosh of The Telegraph likewise believed she had delivered her most nuanced performance. Derek Elley of Variety hailed her as "the most interesting young actress of her generation". Veer-Zaara was Zinta's second highest-grossing film and third major success in two consecutive years.
Zinta next starred in Samir Karnik's Heroes (2008), a three-chapter road movie about two film students who, as part of an assignment, travel across North India to deliver three un-posted letters written by army personnel who lost their lives during the 1999 Kargil war to their families. Zinta is featured in the first chapter as Salman Khan's war widow, Kuljeet Kaur, a woman who becomes the sole breadwinner of the family and single-handedly raises her son. In preparation for the role Zinta attended Anupam Kher's acting school, "Actor Prepares" to learn the dialect and mannerisms of a Punjabi woman. The film was released to a mixed critical reaction, but her performance received rave reviews; Anand Singh of Hindustan Times wrote: "Karnik is merely interested in wringing tears the old-fashioned way, and not in starting a debate. He succeedsmainly because Preity Zinta brings to a role a gravitas and dignity that is seen on the faces of ordinary womenthis may be her coming of age as an actress."
