Debut and early roles (1998–1999) 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." 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. The delay of another film,
Soldier (1998), meant that her first release was
Dil Se.. opposite
Shahrukh Khan and
Manisha Koirala. and her portrayal earned her a nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. 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. 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. 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.
Breakthrough and career advancement (2000–2002) 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.
Anupama Chopra from
India Today reported that Zinta belonged to a new breed of Hindi film actors that breaks away from character stereotypes. 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 In 2001, Zinta was paired with
Sunny Deol in the action film
Farz. Her role was dismissed by critics, and the film failed commercially. 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. 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." Two more 2001 releases featured Zinta, including
Farhan Akhtar's
coming-of-age Dil Chahta Hai. Depicting the contemporary routine life of Indian affluent youth, it focuses on a period of transition in the lives of three young friends (
Aamir Khan,
Saif Ali Khan and
Akshaye Khanna). Zinta played Aamir Khan's love interest Shalini, who is conflicted about her upcoming, loveless marriage.
Dil Chahta Hai was popular with critics, some of whom believed it broke new ground with an unusually realistic portrayal of India's urban milieu. It was named
Best Feature Film in Hindi at the
49th National Film Awards and received the
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Film. A moderate box-office success in India, it performed well in the big cities but failed in the rural areas, which was attributed by trade analysts to the city-oriented lifestyle it presented. Next followed
Deepak Shivdasani's
Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke, a romantic drama co-starring
Ajay Devgn and
Madhuri Dixit which was commercially and critically unsuccessful. In 2002, Zinta collaborated once again with director Kundan Shah, as the protagonist in the family drama
Dil Hai Tumhaara, alongside
Rekha,
Mahima Chaudhry and
Arjun Rampal.
Dil Hai Tumhaara did not succeed financially, but her portrayal was uniformly acclaimed by critics, with those critical of the film marking her presence as its main highlight.
Taran Adarsh from entertainment portal
Bollywood Hungama noted: "...Preity Zinta, in an author-backed role... steals the show with a sterling performance... Here's a performance that is sure to win accolades from the junta and critics whole-heartedly."
Established actress (2003–2007) 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. 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's portrayal of Nisha, a young woman whom Roshan befriends and falls in love with, was deemed "fresh and inspired" by
The Times of India. Regarded as the "most novel Bollywood movie of the year" by
Empire magazine, the film emerged as India's most popular film of the year with a domestic total of . Set in New York City,
Nikhil Advani's romantic drama
Kal Ho Naa Ho starred Zinta as Naina Catherine Kapur, an insecure and irritable
Indian-American who falls for a man with a fatal
heart disease (Shah Rukh Khan). The film earned over worldwide: the second-biggest hit of the year after
Koi... Mil Gaya in India and the top-grossing Hindi film overseas. Critics received
Kal Ho Naa Ho favourably, and
Ram Kamal Mukherjee of
Stardust asserted that it exclusively rested on Zinta's "astounding performance", noting her for having "skillfully handled the hues of the complex character". At the
49th Filmfare Awards, Zinta received two Best Actress nominations: one for
Koi... Mil Gaya, which was named
Best Film, and another for
Kal Ho Naa Ho, for which she won the award, in addition to accolades from other functions, including
IIFA and
Stardust. 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 against its budget. 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. With revenues of over , it was
that year's top-grossing Hindi film both in India and abroad. Her work resulted in a fourth Filmfare Best Actress nomination, among others.
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. The film garnered negative reviews and poor box office returns, Critics and moviegoers were more appreciative that year of
Siddharth Anand's comedy-drama
Salaam Namaste, which saw Zinta and Saif Ali Khan as a contemporary
cohabiting Indian couple in Australia dealing with an unexpected pregnancy. Produced on a big budget by Yash Raj Films, it was the first Indian feature filmed entirely in Australia and became the year's highest-grossing Indian production outside of India and overall
third-highest-grossing Hindi film, earning . Anita Gates of
The New York Times noted Ambar's negative shades but admired Zinta's positive personality, by which she remains likable even despite uncharitable traits in her characters. '' in 2006 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 , and grossed over 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. Zinta next appeared in
Shirish Kunder's romantic musical
Jaan-E-Mann (2006). She played Piya, the cynosure of two men in the United States (
Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar). The film opened to mixed reviews from critics and its eventual box office profit was poor. She said the film was a great relief after the more emotionally intense
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, as
Jaan-E-Mann was "easy, happy and much more simple". Even less successful was her next turn as
British Pakistani woman Alvira Khan in her third project with Yash Raj Films, the musical comedy
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007), co-starring Abhishek Bachchan,
Bobby Deol and
Lara Dutta. The film was a commercial failure in India and critics panned her performance;
The Times of India described her as "too plastic" and Rediff.com concluded, "From accent to emotion, Preity is plain and simple insufferable in this film."
Professional expansion (2007–2008) 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." 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." 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". 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. Peter Debruge of
Variety wrote of her "stunning psychological transformation" in the part and Will Sloan of
Exclaim! labelled her "a revelation". Her performance earned her the
Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress at the 2008
Chicago International Film Festival, for "her strong yet subtle performance as a woman struggling to keep her dreams despite brutal realities". She was also nominated for the
Genie Award for Best Actress.
Hiatus and occasional returns (2009–present) '' in 2013 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 bannerthe
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". 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. After another seven-year hiatus, Zinta is set to return to films with
Lahore 1947, a period drama co-starring Sunny Deol, directed by
Rajkumar Santoshi and produced by Aamir Khan. ==Other work==