Showing posts with label Kya Kehna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kya Kehna. Show all posts
After Kya Kehna, I was told my career is over, but I’ve always done my own thing-Preity Zinta
9:48 AM
Madhureeta Mukherjee (BOMBAY TIMES; October 3, 2026)
From trusting her instincts to choosing the filmmakers she wanted to work with, Preity Zinta has rarely been one to follow the rulebook. On the Bombay Times Lounge, she looks back at the choices, lessons and experiences that have shaped her journey — from Dil Se and Veer-Zaara to the films she picks today. Here’s a glimpse into her candid reflections, some cherished memories and a little PZ wisdom.
‘After Kya Kehna, I was told my career is over, but I’ve always done my own thing’
TaIking about trusting her instincts over industry expectations, Preity says, “I was choosy from the start. Now there are so many more stories to tell, and OTT has a big role to play. I started with Kya Kehna and then I did Dil Se, where I had a 15-minute role. Everyone told me, ‘Your career is over. Pehle toh aap pregnant teenager ka role kar rahe ho and now this small part’. People will always want you to come across a certain way, hence, it’s very important that you cut the noise out and do what you want to do. I wanted to work with Mani Ratnam sir, Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala, so I did Dil Se. I’ve never followed what should be done, I have always done my own thing. I believe that if you find success, then it’s great. If you face failure, then you only learn from it.”
Preity on the lessons she learnt while working with filmmakers like Yash Chopra, Mani Ratnam and Karan Johar
If you’re really feeling something, then it translates. If you’re trying too hard to do a scene or manufacture an emotion, even that will show. In commercial Hindi movies especially, you are shooting something, and suddenly, you have to break into a song. And because I never went to a formal acting school, I wanted to understand the reason behind certain things. The directors used to tell me, ‘It’s not how you look when you do a scene, it’s how you feel when you do a scene’. If you feel it, it’s there. Film is a director’s medium, so over the years I have learned that when in doubt, just follow the director blindly.
Preity on how her priorities have evolved
Now I’m more instinctive when it comes to my career choices. I try to live in the present. They say, ‘Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is the future, today is a gift’. That’s why we call it the present. For me, it is about what I’m feeling currently. I recently did a film called Batwara 1947, which was very intense, and Vibe was a huge contrast. Also, whatever work I do, has to be worth my time. You have different expectations at different times in your life. When I started out, it was about survival. I had to earn that respect. Now, it is not about survival, but about how I am creatively feeling about a role. I have to leave my kids behind when I come to shoot here, so it has to be worth my time.
Preity on the one movie set she’d love to revisit
Veer-Zaara, any day. I remember when I first met Yash Chopra, I said, ‘Good evening, Mr. Chopra’. And he said, ‘Mr. Chopra? Where have you come from?’ He was so wonderful and he went on to treat me like his daughter. He would feed me such good food on set when we were shooting in Punjab and other locations. After that movie, he never called me Preity, he always called me Zaara.
Which of your characters would thrive on Instagram?
Madam H from Vibe.
Which of your characters would be totally cancelled?
Sonia from Armaan. She’s so politically incorrect that she’d be totally cancelled.
Who would make a better cricket commentator from Bollywood - Shah Rukh Khan or Saif Ali Khan?
That’s a tough one. Shah Rukh in the first half and Saif after the break. They both would be very good.
I am in, what I would like to call, the 'sweet spot', or 'the magic hour' of my life-Saif Ali Khan
11:08 PM
The actor on turning 50, testing one’s limits and how to be true to yourself
As told to Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 26, 2020)
That age is just a number has to be the oldest cliche. Many benchmarks are created and revised based on how one has led one’s life. When I came into this profession, people felt the life of an actor rarely crossed 40. But today there are action heroes who are much older than I am.
When I was 35, I remember playing around with a hairdryer one day and noticed that my hairline had begun receding. At that point, I felt I would be lucky if I had any hair by the time I turned 40.
But now, at 50, I hope to have the same head of hair when I turn 70. When you’re young, you feel immortal and don’t really think about the end. But at this stage, I’ve acquired much more patience and understanding about life. I am in, what I would like to call, the 'sweet spot', or 'the magic hour' of my life. That bit of the struggle is now over and the problems of old age haven’t surfaced yet. Basically, you’re past the petty stuff and you’ve not yet developed intestinal issues related to age.
Pulling stunts
Being an actor is extremely demanding in terms of fitness levels. Even though I don’t think of myself as an action hero, I've done a lot of action roles over the years and I remember how tiring some of them were to pull off. You do it as long as you can, but when your knee starts hurting, and I’m sure it will happen with time, you have to find a way to adjust or get someone else to do it. Even Daniel Craig (as James Bond) has a body double.
With good editing and acting, the entire sequence can create a wonderful impression. And it makes sense to do so, rather than this misguided machismo that we have of wanting to do our own stunts (which is all very well till a certain age), but not at the risk of breaking your leg and endangering a project. I’ve nearly lost a thumb (Kaalakaandi, 2017), had my head cut open (Kya Kehna, 2000), resulting in several stitches and a terrible scar which people thought could be disastrous.
Moderation is the key
One of the famous dangers that film actors in India have always grappled with is the challenge of moderating their alcohol consumption. If you’re not careful, it can push you over the edge easily. While I sometimes like to indulge in a glass of wine, I don’t enjoy hangovers any more. So I try to do everything in moderation and constantly listen to my body. What keeps me going is the love for life and a sense of curiosity and the need to want to challenge myself. You have to strike a balance; you can’t burn the candle at both ends and need to enjoy yourself too. You have to learn to not get too close to the sun and not become too boring either.
Fitness fundas
The best and luckiest thing I have and what keeps me going is my job. That I’m an actor and am required to look a certain way provides that extra push to want to look good and stay fit. Most actors have done songs where they have danced on their knees. Akshay Kumar would wear knee pads, sometimes I wouldn’t bother and, later on, it would hurt. I’ve gotten away with it without any permanent damage, thankfully, but there’s certainly some amount of wear and tear, and you realise it’s not the most sensible thing to keep doing. But if you must, you should take the necessary precautions. In fact, we were prepping for a hectic dance number recently and muscles I had forgotten I had, started paining. It was a reminder of the fitness levels one needs to achieve and sustain in this profession.
Weight training may appeal to someone’s vanity and they may pump iron aggressively, but if you’re not mindful and strain yourself, before you know it, you may have joint and back problems. My fitness mantra lately has been to do 150 push-ups every other day, and it feels really good.
Eating right
Ultimately, the only way you can lose weight is by burning more calories than what you intake. I’ve started cooking and have dabbled in salads and a lot of fish dishes. Breakfast is usually a banana and a coffee followed by work-outs with weights. Lunch is fish and rice or fish and vegetables or maybe dal chawal with a papad. I try to have fruits in the afternoon followed by an hour of walking. I believe that carbs are necessary and so is a bit of sugar. So I also enjoy paranthas and dahi for breakfast on some days and various snacks and peanuts thrown in with sugar and salt through the day. If you eat correctly, it’s also good for your mind and it keeps you energised, positive and happy.
Re-evaluating priorities
While it’s all great to give it your all, why work harder than you should? We’ve shot for films where we have risen at 5 am and powered through 15-hour-shifts. And then, I’ve done a film like Tanhaji, where we shot for reasonable hours quite comfortably and managed focused work within the stipulated schedule and it was a massive hit too. It helps if you look within and project your unique self. That’s what being an actor is all about. We have a galaxy of stars because there’s not just one way of doing it, or one correct or cool expression for a thought or feeling. Also, count your blessings instead of fretting over something you have no control over.
With age comes...
Many wonder ‘what is it all for?’ something that seemed like a futile question once, but now, even I find myself mulling over these existential questions. Why do we have this level of consciousness... All you need to know is that we have a certain amount of time on this planet and there’s a saying in Hindu philosophy which goes that there’s a certain age when a man should toil and then there’s a time to take it easy and later, a time to renounce these worldly pleasures.
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SAIF HAS SOME ADVICE FOR YOU
1. Don’t pump weights according to how much someone else is pushing. What works for one can injure another. Always consult a trainer for weight training.
2. Avoid fad diets that eliminate carbs or sugar entirely. If you eat correctly, it’s good for your mind, keeps you energised, positive and happy.
3. Try to do everything in moderation and constantly listen to your body.
4. Focus on being positive and be proud of what is most unique about you.
"Let's all just make movies, yaar"-Khalid Mohamed pays tribute to Kundan Shah
8:06 AM
Khalid Mohamed (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 8, 2017)
Kundan Shah
(1947-2017)
The wall paint was peeling. The ceiling was cracked, the wooden desk was chipped. And the harsh noon sunlight was baking a thin, pajama-striped mattress on a rickety cot. "Imagine that's where Shah Rukh Khan would sleep aaram se during his struggling days," he had said ruefully when I met him last. Venue: his bare but utilitarian office in a bylane off Bandra's Rizvi complex.
Kundan Shah's voice wouldn't go butter-soft on rewinding to the New Wave, which hit its tidal point during the mid-1970s. The riders on the storm were led by the game-changing graduates of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.
Unlike some of his comrades-in-cinema — I'm talking of Mani Kaul and Kumar Shahani — Kundan wasn't contemptuous of either the masala merchants, or the middle-of-the-roadies. A man who loved the movies, he could never be drawn into a chat, without him dropping the names of Saeed and Aziz Mirza and Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
On that noon when Kundan dropped SRK's name, I went, "Do you have a thing about newbies who turn too big for their boots when they attain stardom?" "No, no, nothing like that," the filmmaker assured me. "I don't have a bug about nostalgia. Shah Rukh has moved on, so has life. Who wants to romanticise the past? We're in another millennium. We've greyed, we have to be mature about the here and now."
No two ways about it. Kundan's Kabhi Hanh Kabhi Naa (1994) remains one of Shah Rukh Khan's most spontaneously larkish acts. Yet, the writer-director is enshrined in the film lover's memory across generations with the coffee-black comedy Jaane Bhi Bo Yaaro (1983) — much like Ramesh Sippy has been tattooed with Sholay. To that, Kundan had balked, "You're embarrassing me. In fact, I was surprised by the success of my first film, the toughest critics of the time had praised Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro lavishly. Yeah, I'm always being asked about its sequel. I'm sure Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah) would never say no to me. But Ravi Baswani has gone. Still who knows, some day, it could happen."
It didn't because, perhaps, Kundan was constrained to take on projects which weren't in the same league at all.
"I've to keep myself busy," he'd retorted. "I made a film for peanuts for a TV channel. It was based on the true-life mass suicide committed by sisters of a small town. The channel just junked it."
Open to offers from the dream merchants, Kundan had helmed Kya Kehna! (2000), featuring Preity Zinta as an about-to-be single mother. It echoed the plot of My-heart-is-beating Julie and quite inadvertently was a precursor to Hollywood's Juno.
Whenever I brought up Kya Kehna!, the friend in him would scowl, "That wasn't made for the critics. And whether you like it or not, it earned big money for the producer at least."
He'd avoid any dredging up of the hopelessly cliched romcom Hum To Mohabbat Karega (2000) or the shelved Luveria. "Let's all just make movies, yaar. And to each his or her style and aesthetics," he would plead.
That noon interview — on video camera with Kundan — extended for a couple of hours. It was for a documentary I was making on Shyam Benegal. The section revolving around the parallel cinema movement, unfortunately, couldn't be included since the documentary had become too lengthy for comfort in its final edit. Kundan had agreed that the New Wave did lose its impact when the rule-breakers, including himself, had answered Doordarshan's call for TV serials. There was a drift away from big screen cinema. Unmistakably, though, Nukkad and Wagle Ki Duniya bear Kundan's early rebel-with- a-cause signature. The video interview done, Kundan with his customary courtesy saw me off to the taxi stand. A Rizvi college student stopped him for an autograph, saying that he'd seen Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro a hundred times over.
To that my friend had laughed out loud, "At least this moment wasn't caught on camera. 'Bye."
Films with better second weekend numbers since 2000
4:44 PM
Box Office India Trade Network
DUM LAGA KE HAISHA joined an elite list of films that have recorded a better second weekend than first weekend. Since 2000 there have been 9 films and they are as follows.
Kya Kehna (2000)
Gadar (2001)
Raaz (2002)
Vivah (2006)
Bheja Fry (2007)
Jab We Met (2007)
Band Baaja Baraat (2010)
Queen (2014)
Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015)
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