BREAKING: Preeti Jhangiani: Signed 10-15 Films After Mohabbatein, Many Didn’t Take Off

The one name you would remember her best by is undoubtedly as Kiran from the mega hit ensemble film, Mohabbatein. She did several roles later and made an impact but her debut roles continues to be her most-loved one. About 25 years later, Preeti Jhangiani has moved on to being one of the most successful actor-entrepreneurs out there alongside her husband and actor, Parveen Dabbas.

We had the chance to sit down for a long and exclusive conversation with Preeti and it ranged across several things but obviously the central topic was Mohabbatein. Right from talking about the experience, looking back it and also sharing unknown anecdotes, Preeti was candid and honest about. Let's take a deep dive.

Q: There cannot be a conversation with Preeti Jhangiani without talking about Mohabbatein. I was about eight when it released and used to track everything about this mega film with six debutants alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. Looking back, it’s amazing how everyone moved on to do so many things in the industry. How do you look back at it?

Preeti: Mohabbatein will always be very, very special. I don't think I would have got this kind of a training ground anywhere else. This kind of a presentation, this kind of story anywhere else, or this kind of a character that stuck with people for so many years, right? Even today, people know me as the Moat girl or Kiran. So, rather than look at it like it typecast me or anything, I look at it as very fortunate that I got something like that for my first film itself. It was an amazing training ground for anybody. So I feel very fortunate to have had a film like Mohabbatein.

Q: How do you look back at it in a way that you know? I mean see, everybody has a particular vision. I mean you are a youngster technically for a lack of a better word who is entering a film and who is part of this big film. You obviously have a certain vision of how you want to chart your career when it comes to acting bits. So things happen, things didn't work out, things worked out. Happens with everyone. How did you look back at it and what were the moments that you felt that, oh, you know what, let's just put this at the back burner and focus on other things?

Preeti: So none of that happened. I think my story is a little bit different. Firstly, I was born and brought up in Mumbai and my family is not connected to films anywhere. It was not something I thought of at all. Modeling was not something I thought of, commercial modeling let alone films. It was a very short thought. I didn't even know when I got my first few modeling offers. I just did it a lot because I wanted to skip college. It was as simple as that.

I signed about 10 to 15 films after Mohabbatein, and then I had to stop because I said I would not be able to handle so many dates.

- Preeti Jhangiani (as told to India Forums)

My first Malayalam film that I did was at the age of 16. Again, there was a teacher strike in college and we were free. They came and said, "We're going to shoot this film in Austria." So I didn't think of it like a career option or even hear the story. I just went, me and my dad, for a 40-day trip to Austria. That is why we did this. Fantastic. So once again, let me say I never looked at it like a career path or trajectory.

After that, I got busy working and doing films. I did two Telugu films and one Tamil film before I actually did Mohabbatein. It was only when Mohabbatein actually happened that there was a thought that this is turning out to be a career because I had to complete my college. I had to do everything through correspondence because I was living out of suitcases by then, traveling with my parents because I was so young.

Preeti: But again, there was no thought so much behind it. For people who come from out of Bombay and have to live here alone, they have to pay their rents. They have more of a passion or a do-or-die attitude and more of an aggression towards it. The fire for acting came to me only much later. Even after Mohabbatein and Awara Paagal Deewana, I realized that one has to put in a lot more. It was after Mohabbatein that I understood what all goes into acting.

Doing the films, yes, I had to work hard. Luckily, my parents instilled in me that whatever you do, you do it to the best of your ability. We had to work very hard in those films. The dances, the working conditions, the heat or the freezing cold in Switzerland, it was altogether different from what it is here. The South film industry is very disciplined in terms of timings. Most of the heroes I worked with were very particular about reaching the set at 5:00 a.m. So if they reached at 5:00 a.m., I had to reach at 4:00 a.m. because it took me an hour to wake up and get ready. I learned discipline very young. Luckily, I was not afraid of hard work. I realized that I enjoyed this as well.

So more than having aggression and passion and networking, I enjoyed what I was doing. I think again I was lucky that my career trajectory went this way.

Q: And did you ever have a moment where you felt that, okay, I've had a Mohabbatein, I've had enough, I'm totally talking about the film industry. I'm not talking about the South because again it's a very different time. Even in the South industry back then, today it is the biggest thing, but it was very different then. I want to know, because now that you started getting into the groove technically with Awara Paagal Deewana and Mohabbatein, were you somehow, let's say, disheartened that not those big films were coming anymore and you had to try to strive and find and search for it? As you mentioned, networking wasn't really a thing because this is not the social media age at all. It was very different then.

It's a very long back, but yes. It's not like I didn't sign a lot of films after Mohabbatein. I signed about 10 to 15 films, and then I had to stop because I said I would not be able to handle so many dates. Most of them happened without dates. I think at that time most of the films I signed didn't actually take off. These were films with big stars and big heroes that didn't take off. The ones I eventually had to leave kind of took off. I guess it was just how it happened.

I don't know if I gave it that much thought. I was quite comfortable where I was and I was still working continuously. From the age of 16 to 27 or 28, I was working non-stop. So it didn't feel like, oh, I'm not getting the kind of work I want. I think maybe I could have sat down and thought that I should take a step back and choose the correct roles and meet the filmmakers I wanted to. That's what I would have done now. When you are young, you don't think too much. I didn't have too many film people around to advise me in the right way, and I didn't think to ask for help. These are just things you realize later. Yes, it could have gone a very different way if I had stepped back and looked at it more professionally. But like I said, the people who actually do that and get down to it are the people who are really driven and ambitious, which I feel at that time I was not.