‘I was scared of Salman’

Preity Zinta talks about her rapport with fellow actor Salman Khan

Actor Preity Zinta (above, left) has revealed that she was scared of Salman Khan (inset) before she shared screen space with him. Preity, 40, who is now a close friend of the Bajrangi Bhaijaan actor, has worked with him in five films in her 17-year-long-career, and says he is a shy person.

“The only actor I used to be scared of before I worked with him was @BeingSalmanKhan I don’t know why but I was ... I used to love to see Salman squirm and get embarrassed hearing my dialogues in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. He actually is kinda shy (sic),” she tweeted during an online session with fans on the completion of 17 years in Bollywood.

Preity also shared that she and her Chori Chori Chupke Chupke ((2001) co-star Rani Mukerjee, had the greatest chemistry. “Of all my co-stars, my best co-star award goes to the one and only Rani Mukerjee. She is a pleasure to work with and we had the greatest chemistry,” says Zinta, who worked with Rani in Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega, (2000) Veer Zaara (2004) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006).

The dimpled-beauty made her acting debut with Dil Se in 1998 followed by a role in Soldier the same year. These performances earned her best female debut awards, and she was later recognised for her role as a teenage single mother in Kya Kehna (2000).

Sharing a trivia from the Kya Kehna, she wrote, “I slapped the vice principle in the film so hard that when the director said ‘cut’, he screamed, ‘Even if it’s not ok ... it’s ok’.” And it’s not that she was the one to hurt others. Zinta says that she was hurt too. “I chipped my teeth & broke my leg in the climax scene of Sangharsh. It was awful! I did beat him (Ashutosh Rana) in the second take for revenge though,” she says.

PHOTO: YOGEN SHAH