Preity Zinta has made her return to the film industry after an eight-year break, featuring in Sunny Deol’s historical drama, “Batwara 1947.” The actress had stepped back from the limelight around 2018 to concentrate on her personal life and the upbringing of her twins with her husband, Gene Goodenough, in the United States. In a recent interview, she reflected on her transition from being a prominent star to a homemaker, a shift that involved adjusting to a new lifestyle with “limited help” at home. Zinta also discussed the necessity of sending legal notices to Google and Wikipedia due to the confusion surrounding a playful nickname given to her by Bobby Deol, which many mistakenly believed was her actual name. She had to clarify that her true name is Preity, not Pritam Singh.
During a conversation with Bombay Times, Zinta was asked whether she missed the glitz of Bollywood after her hiatus. She responded, “I needed time to readjust. When I was acting, I was always in the limelight—everything revolved around me, my actions, and my choices. However, when I became involved in cricket, I learned that the focus should be on the game rather than on me. Though I wasn’t on the field, I observed from the sidelines, which served as a form of practice for me. I have experienced different phases in my life, working tirelessly and sometimes putting in 18-hour days.”
She continued, “Now, as a homemaker, my attention is directed towards my personal life. This requires time away from my previous identity to truly focus. Having children transforms everything; they become the center of your universe. It is incredibly demanding work. While I do have some assistance, it is limited because my husband prefers to keep our home environment intimate and hands-on.” Zinta also shared that she enjoys cooking and does so regularly.
Preity Zinta married financial analyst Gene Goodenough in Los Angeles in 2016. The couple welcomed twins through surrogacy in 2021—son Jai Zinta Goodenough and daughter Gia Zinta Goodenough.
In the interview, Zinta spoke fondly of her close friend and co-star from “Soldier” (1998), Bobby Deol. She expressed, “I truly admire him. He is one of the kindest and most genuine individuals I have ever known, always remaining true to himself.”
When the discussion turned to the lighthearted nickname “Pritam Singh” that Bobby Deol had playfully given her during filming, she responded, “There are still shows that list me as one of the ‘Actors who changed their names,’ and I’m referred to as Pritam Singh. He often joked that I was one of the boys, but I’m not sure why he started calling me that. Rani (Rani Mukerji) picked it up as well, which annoyed me, so Bobby probably used it even more. To this day, he still calls me Pritam.”
The nickname confusion escalated to the point where Preity needed to involve her lawyers to send legal notices to various platforms, clarifying her real name. “I had to have my lawyers send letters to Wikipedia, Google, and others because they incorrectly stated that ‘Pritam Singh Zinta’ had changed her name to ‘Preity Zinta,’” she concluded.
On the professional front, Preity recently appeared in Kunal Kemmu’s action-comedy “Vibe,” which also stars Kemmu, Sparsh Shrivastava, and Vanshika Dhir.
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