Preity Zinta refuses to talk about Ness Wadia

We start, as usual. Preity Zinta begins by announcing categorically that she doesn’t want to talk about her personal life and certainly not about boyfriend Ness Wadia. With some coaxing, she grumbles, “Do I have to talk about my personal life each time I give an interview?”

Well, interest in the personal life of a star is only natural, isn’t it? “I agree,” she says, “But at the end of the day, we end up speaking only about our personal life. I don’t bar the press from asking me personal questions, but I think this constant speculation and intervention in someone else’s life is just not done.”

Does that mean that Preity and Ness have not split, contrary to what the grapevine says? We are greeted with silence. Later, we gather that they are very much in touch with each other.

However, Preity is more than forthcoming about her work. She has just completed her first schedule of Rituparno Ghosh’s English film The Last Lear. She says, “It’s too early to talk about the film, because we have just begun shooting. I think Rituda is a fantastic director, who emphasises on small details. Plus, it is my first English language film, so I am extra-excited,” she says.

Shabana Azmi, Aishwarya Rai, and Sushmita Sen have already worked in films in English. How has Preity’s experience been? “It’s different,” she laughs. “In so many years, I have worked only in Hindi. So, when Rituda gave me the dialogue, I felt somewhat different. Look, I don’t want to give any lectures on cinema and its language, I am too much of a rookie to talk about that,” she smiles.

Preity says visiting Kolkata after many years was a fun-filled experience. She went there last when she was in the eighth standard. “I was too small, and my memory was quite hazy,” she says. “I remember that the roads were narrow and there was too much traffic. But now the city has got a drastic makeover, there are many over bridges and bypass roads. The city is cleaner,” she says. Next time around, she intends to visit the Kali temple. “I will be coming back to Kolkata to shoot some scenes with Amitji,” she adds.

The actress is busy learning Bengali just to communicate with the unit members. “I don’t see any difference between Kolkata and Mumbai as far the work culture goes. In Kolkata they speak Bengali, and I have managed to learn few words so that I can survive comfortably,” she says.

Preity also like to gorge on fish cooked in mustard. “It’s just mouth-watering. Rituda gets yummy food from his place, and pampers me a lot on the sets,” she giggles.