Why Preity Zinta sent legal notices to Google over her name, and how Bobby Deol’s to blame - The Indian Express
Preity Zinta recently returned to acting after an eight-year hiatus, in Sunny Deol’s period drama Batwara 1947. The actor had stepped away from the spotlight around 2018, to focus on her personal life and raising her twins with husband Gene Goodenough in the US. Now, in a recent interview, Preity recalled being the ‘centre of attention’ as a star and then living life as a homemaker with ‘limited help’ at home. She also revealed sending legal notice to Google and Wikipedia, after many believed that a playful nickname given to her by Bobby Deol stuck, so much so that many believed it was her real name. Preity had to send legal notices to clarify Preity was her real name and not Pritam Singh.
During an interaction with Bombay Times, Preity Zinta was asked about missing the glamorous life of Bollywood after going on a break. “I needed practice to fit into it. When I was acting, everything was about me. The whole focus was me, what I do, what I eat. Then I got into cricket and learnt that it didn’t matter whatever I was doing, but the focus was the game. I wasn’t part of the game, but I was sitting outside. So, there was a little bit of practice there. I’ve had all the phases of my life where I’ve explored, worked hard, gone out, worked 18 hours a day,” she shared.
The actor further added, “Now, being a homemaker, it’s about focusing on the personal side of my life. For that, you need time, be away from who you are so you can focus on that. And having kids is everything about everything changes. It’s not you who’s the centre of the universe, it’s the kids. It’s a lot of hard work. I have help but it’s very limited, because my husband doesn’t like having too many people around in the house, because he wants to be more hands-on.” She also revealed that she is a good cook and cooks frequently at home.
Preity Zinta got married to American financial analyst Gene Goodenough. They tied the knot in Los Angeles in 2016. They had twins via surrogacy in 2021 – son Jai Zinta Goodenough and daughter Gia Zinta Goodenough.
During the interaction, Preity also opened up about her close friend and Soldier (1998) co-star Bobby Deol. She said, “I absolutely adore him. He is one of the nicest and sweetest people that I have ever met. He is just wonderful and he has always been consistent of who he is.”
When the host nudged towards the anecdote of Bobby Deol playfully giving Preity Zinta the nickname ‘Pritam Singh’ during the shooting of their film, she replied, “Still there are shows which include me in the list of ‘Actors who changed their names’ and I am Pritam Singh in it. He always said that you are one of the boys, but I don’t know why he started calling me Pritam. Then, Rani (Rani Mukerji) also started calling me Pritam. Because it used to irritate me, I think he called me more. Even till date, he calls me Pritam.”
In fact, the joke went to such an extent that Preity had to send legal notices to clarify her real name. “I actually had to have my lawyers send letters to Wikipedia, Google, to everybody, because they had said ‘Pritam Singh Zinta’ changed the name to ‘Preity Zinta’,” she concluded.
On the work front, Preity Zinta recently starred in Kunal Kemmu’s action-comedy Vibe. The film also featured Kunal himself, Sparsh Shrivastava, and Vanshika Dhir.
