Preity is upset!

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.


Courtesy:timesofindia.com
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