By:
Subhash
K.
Jha,
IndiaFM
Wednesday,
September
26,
2007
Of
late
Preity
Zinta
has
been
gravitating
towards
a
neo-realistic
cinema.
After
working
with
Rituparno
Ghosh
and
Jahnu
Barua
in
The
Last
Lear
and
Har
Pal,
Preity's
latest
creative
acquisition
is
none
other
than
Deepa
Mehta
who
has
earlier
worked
with
'method'
actresses
like
Shabana
Azmi
and
Nandita
Das.
Now
in
a
sudden
and
unexpected
move
Deepa
has
finalized
Preity
Zinta
to
play
the
battered
Punjabi
wife
in
Heaven
On
Earth.
Preity
is
over
the
moon.
"I
met
Deepa
a
while
back
at
the
IIFA.
She
saw
my
film
The
Last
Lear
and
loved
it.
I'm
so
glad
I
did
this
film.
It
has
opened
an
entirely
new
door
for
me.
I
feel
I'm
born
anew.
Right
now
I'm
hungering
for
a
new
kind
of
acting
challenge.
Doing
Deepa's
film
is
another
step
in
the
same
direction.
She's
one
director
I've
been
longing
to
work
with.
When
I
read
the
script
I
said,
this
is
it."
Deepa
who
decided
to
do
this
start-to-finish
quickie
before
plunging
into
the
Hollywood
biggie
Luna
with
John
Abraham,
Rachel
Weisz,
Dustin
Hoffman
and
Chris
Cooper,
was
on
the
look-out
for
the
right
face,
personality
and
approach
for
the
role.
"And
I
think
Preity
is
perfect!" says
Deepa
from
Toronto
where
she's
now
preparing
to
shoot
Heaven
On
Earth.
"I
first
met
Preity
at
IIFA
earlier
this
year.
I
was
stuck
by
her
positivity
and
her
hungering
for
opportunities
to
stretch
herself
as
an
actress.
We
talked
about
the
real-life
character
of
a
Punjabi
housewife
who
goes
through
the
nightmare
of
domestic
violence.
Preity
was
keen.
But
the
dates
were
a
problem.
They've
now
been
worked
out.
And
Preity
is
on."
The
shooting
for
Deepa
(and
Preity's)
first
Punjabi
film
begins
in
October.
But
before
that
in
the
middle
of
September
Preity
will
be
attending
a
workshop
in
Toronto.
"To
understand
and
come
to
grips
with
the
character's
milieu
and
body
language.
I
think
Preity
can
look
very
very
Punjabi," observes
Deepa.