Mohabbatein fame Preeti Jhangiani began her career with Rajshri Productions' music video titled Yeh Hai Prem opposite Abbas. She then started featuring in Nirma sandal soap and various other ads that gave her the hype needed to step into mainstream movies. She stepped into the world of cinema with the Malayalam film, Mazhavillu. She then acted in two Telegu films, Thammadu opposite Pawan Kalyan and Narasimhanaidu opposite Balakrishna.

She made her Bollywood debut in 2000 with a super hit film Mohabbbatein where she was cast opposite Jimmy Shergill. The film also starred Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and others. She was also seen in a few more Bollywood movies like Baaz, LOC Kargil, Aan, and others.

People loved her as the ‘adarsh naari’ and accepted her that way. They couldn’t imagine her kissing people on screen or wearing revealing clothes. She chose to stay away from Bollywood as she was being typecast and directors couldn’t offer her meaty roles.

In a recent interview with TOI, she said how people were unwilling to accept her in any other roles but ‘bechari bahu’ character. “Some people did try to change it. I did Victoria No 203 where I played a negative character; I absolutely loved it. I still use photos from that photoshoot, I am in so much love with them. I really did try to get away from the typecast but the audience didn’t accept it. Even if I wanted to do a kissing scene, they wouldn’t accept it, though I did have a kissing scene in a Rajshri video too. In films, I feel, people just refused to accept it. I still have diehard fans who tell me not to wear anything but just saree kind of things," she said.

She added, "People still call me the ‘Chhuimui girl’ or the ‘Mohabbatein girl’. I am stuck with these two tags and I am fine with it. Midway into my career, I was like, ‘Can you please offer me something else?’ I didn’t want to play the bechari bahu (helpless daughter-in-law) anymore. I was not denied roles but I was completely typecast."

She also said that she didn’t relate to the characters that she played on the big screen as in real life, she didn't even own a 'salwar-kurta'. Well, this is quite an irony.

What do you think of these stereotypes? Would you have liked to see Preeti in other, different roles? Let us know in the comments section below.  

View the full article