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Preeti Jhangiani says post Mohabbatein, she got typecast to the extent that she couldn’t even do roles that were different from the Yash Raj movie. The 44-year-old actor made her Bollywood debut with the blockbuster, but eventually failed to take up scripts she wished to do.
In a candid chat with Zoom, Preeti opened up about how her simple girl-next-door avatar in Mohabbatein fell heavily on her career. “At that time, typecasting was a big thing. It happened to me completely. I was a very Bombay girl and barely owned any salwar-suits. So I never wore that. But, when Mohabbatein released, that’s all I got offered, and that’s just how people saw me,” she said.
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Preeti's Bollywood debut in Mohabbatein
Mohabbatein
released in 2000. Lead by Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, it had a bunch of newbies like Shamita Shetty, Uday Chopra, Kim Sharna, Jimmy Shergill, Jugal Hansraj, along with Preeti. This was right after she had won hearts by appearing in the song Chhui Mui Si Tum Lagti from Rajshri Productions music album Yeh Hai Prem opposite actor Abbas.
While Preeti played a young widow in Mohabbatein, who’s mostly clad in traditional Indian wear like saree or suits, she said that left her at the receiving end, even backlash when did glamorous, bolder roles in the subsequent films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UjO-BVWgsU
Preeti on getting typecast
"Even if I tried to do something bolder, I received huge backlash for it. I think the audience was not able to accept me, or maybe I wasn't presented well in different kinds of roles. So yeah, that is true. I did get quite typecast in the kind of roles I was offered," she shared.
Preeti did other films like Awara Paagal Deewana, LOC: Kargil and Aan: Men at Work, along with Telugu films Thammudu and Narasimha Naidu. Particularly talking about her 2005 film Chaahat – Ek Nasha, where she co-starred with Manisha Koirala, Sharad Kapoor and Aryan Vaid, Preeti revealed how audience completely rejected her sexy avatar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSo6QN3vZDk
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Audience backlash and hate mails
"Chahat is a beautiful film with lovely songs. There was a very sweet song in the rain and there's a shot where I take my saree pallu off. That shot created such a furor. I kind of received hate mails for that," Preeti recalled.
"It's not just the film industry that saw me that way, I think it was even the audience that didn't want me to do any glamorous or sexy role. But, I was so fiery about it, I ended up doing a negative role in Victoria 203, and I loved it. I had a great time doing it," she added.