In this edition of The Role That Changed My Life, Preeti Jhangiani looks back at how her debut with Mohabbatein gave her something most actors yearn for.
Mohabbatein was one of the biggest films of its time. Directed by Aditya Chopra, it was his second film after the monumental success of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. The film starred Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan facing off against one another for the first time. And then there were six young debutants, poised to take on the world. For all of them, this was the best possible entry into filmdom. And as Preti Jhangiani recounts more than two decades later, it was a life-changing moment.
Ask the actress which role changed her life and she promptly replies, “It would have to be Mohabbatein. I cannot speak of any other role because it’s something that people still remember me by and something that will always stay with me.” Preeti played Kiran, a young widow in denial who must shed her own inhibitions and her father-in-law’s objections to find love again. “I am grateful and thankful for it because very few people get that one defining character in their life,” she says about the role.
Mohabbatein broke box office records upon its release in October 2000 and emerged as one of the highest-grossing Indian films of the year. Preeti recounts how her life changed overnight after Mohabbatein released. From being an unknown commodity, she was thrust into national limelight at the age of 20. “I went to Gaiety Galaxy to watch the film first day first show. I took ten family members along and it was madness. I tried to blend in but I did not do a very good job of disguising myself. But I got mobbed and I didn’t watch the film. I had to leave my family and go away,” she recalls, adding, “It was really fun. It was not a mad mob, but a good mob.”
After Mohabbatein, Preeti worked in a number of big films like LOC Kargil and Awara Paagal Deewana, apart from a handful of films in Telugu and Kannada as well. In 2008, she married her With Love Tumhara co-star Parvin Dabas and took a hiatus from acting soon. Preeti returned to the screen earlier this year with a supporting role in the SonyLiv web series Kafas.
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 "Preeti Jhangiani in Mohabbatein")
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