Praises for Preity Pour In

Director Deepa Mehta’s latest film has been getting all kinds of buzz, from film festivals around the world, to praise for its lead Preity Zinta. You might recognize it as Heaven on Earth but it is titled Videsh for Indian audiences, and is set to release at the end of this month.

Deepa is known for exploring tough subjects in her films. Water (2005) showed life for ostracized widows in India, and Earth (1998) took a look at civil war and prejudice between Muslims and Hindus. Now Videsh tackles domestic abuse (quite relevant no?).

Recently, Deepa gushed about her lead actress and made it known how highly she thinks of the Bollywood star. Deepa told reporters at a press conference last week that, “Preity is extremely talented and for me truly a gift from the gods. I had seen her body of work but I met her for the first time at IIFA in England. We met and spoke about so many things and issues. I was blown away by her intelligence and social consciousness and that’s what made me offer her the role of Chand. She has truly given a mind-blowing performance.”

Looks like someone has a girl crush!

This is an interesting career move for Preity, whose recent Bollywood stuff hasn’t been very successful or substantial. And Bollywood stars are reluctant about venturing into foreign industries, so this is quite admirable of Preity! For Videsh, She has already won the Best Actress award at the Chicago Film Festival last fall, and she has been nominated for Best Actress at the Genie Awards in Canada in the spring.