EXCLUSIVE: Bobby Deol Shares How Preity Zinta Almost Became A Criminal Psychologist Before Signing “Soldier”
In a candid chat with Instant Bollywood, Animal actor Bobby Deol opened up about his early days in the industry and shared a fun and unexpected story about how Preity Zinta got cast in Soldier. Turns out, before acting, Preity was really into criminal pscychology.
EXCLUSIVE: Bobby Deol Shares How Preity Zinta Almost Became A Criminal Psychologist Before Signing “Soldier”
Bobby recalled, “I think there were a couple of actresses I knew from childhood, like Twinkle Khanna. I knew Preity Zinta, because when I would go out with my friends, I’d see her – she was the friend of one of my buddies. I met her back then when she was aiming to be a criminal psychologist, and she was really cool.”
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Back then, Bobby was spending a lot of time at filmmaker Shekhar Kapur’s office, waiting for his first film to take off. “At that time, Shekhar Kapur was supposed to direct my first movie, so I was in his office every day. I spent so much time there. Nothing was really getting done; we were just brainstorming stories and all sorts of stuff, but there was no progress. Then one day, suddenly, he got an offer for another film. I was doing the screen test for that, suddenly everyone in the office became my buddies.”
When Bobby Deol Recommended Preity Zinta For Soldier
It was during this time that Preity’s name came up. Bobby was instantly intrigued at the name that rang a bell. “They were saying things like, ‘Hey, there’s this girl, Preity Zinta.’ I was like, ‘Wait, what! Whose name did you just take?’ I watched her screen test, and I was totally blown away.”
Bobby had already signed on for Soldier, and when directors Abbas and Mustan were looking for a leading lady, he knew exactly who to recommend. “I had signed on for Soldier, and when I met Abbas and Mustan, they were looking for a heroine. I told them, ‘I’ve got a girl in mind. Preity Zinta. Her work looks really good.’”
He added that her popular Liril ad had also created quite a buzz, which helped her land the role. Even though Dil Se was the first to hit the screens, Preity had actually signed Soldier before that.
