“Mohabbatein was a dream film to make a debut with” – Preeti Jhangiani

One first remembers seeing Preeti Jhangiani in ‘Yeh Hai Prem’, a trilogy of music videos produced by Rajshri which featured her alongside actor Abbas. Those music videos became extremely popular and also started the short-lasting but widespread trend of people gifting their loved ones tiny teddy bears and also using them as an accessory.

After doing a film each in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam, Preeti ventured into Hindi cinema with ‘Mohabbatein’, a film which gave her and a bunch of relatively new actors the opportunity to share the screen with Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. The film completed 25 years of its release recently. While Preeti continues to remain active as an actor, entrepreneurship consumes a lot of her time. Preeti is the founder of Pro Panja League, which happens to be one of the most rapidly growing sporting ventures in the country.

In this interview, Preeti talks about the controversy surrounding her last release, 25 years of ‘Mohabbatein’ completing twenty-five years of its release this year, journey as an entrepreneur, producing films and more.

You played a journalist in ‘Udaipur Files’, which released a couple of weeks ago. The film had to court several controversies before getting the approval from the Delhi High Court for a theatrical release.

The film was based on a real-life incident and showed the truth. It was very important for the producers, writers and the director to get their facts right. They did a lot of research. They even went and spoke to the families involved. Every piece of information was cross-checked by the families. All the hard work put in by everybody came to life in the form of this film. It was difficult to go through all these obstacles as a lot of hard work had gone into putting this film together. They went to extreme lengths to ensure everything was factually correct. Any filmmaker would be upset when their film is asked to be edited or certain portions have to be cut out at the last minute. As per the directions of the Supreme Court, all the required cuts were made. It was difficult to go through this situation. When the film was cleared for a release, all of us heaved a sigh of relief.

In 2023, you made your debut in the streaming space with ‘Kafas’. It was a show which dealt with an important issue.

I would love to be a part of stories that are difficult to tell. ‘Kafas’ dealt with the issue of child abuse. People in our society are still hesitant to talk about such things. Because of this, the victim ends up feeling event more victimized. We need to make sure that when such incidents happen, anonymity is maintained around the identity of the victim.

In 2011, you turned producer with ‘Sahi Dhande Galat Bande’. Do you plan to produce more films in the near future?

Of course, we will! Many subjects are in the pipeline. ‘Sahi Dhande Galat Bande’ received a lot of critical acclaim. The film was also showcased at the Indian Panorama section. It was a story that spoke about certain truths but in an entertaining manner. That’s what we want to do with everything we bring about.

You are the co-founder of Pro Panja League, a professional Indian arm wrestling league.

Arm wrestling is a sport everybody understands. It is a sport everybody has played at some point. We wanted to show people what an entertaining and exciting space it could be. A while back, I saw two athletes on the floor but they did not give up. It is a sport that represents power, passion and technique. There are very few league’s which might have got these kind of numbers.

You dabbled into sports as an entrepreneur and have worked in this space in a committed manner. What drove you towards getting into this space in the first place?

As the journey started, we realized there are many spaces in the sport which needed support. Now, I head the National Federation which is called the People’s Arm Wrestling Federation India. With the federation, we have travelled to almost every part of the country. Yes, we had to leave everything behind to do this. But, we have no regrets. We have put everything in this sport. If you have to build something from the ground up, you need to have a bottom-down or top-bottom approach. We worked at the ground level with the federation and the highest level with the league. The league is now known as the highest ground wrestling production in the world. Every international athlete does want to come down here and be a part of the league. It’s a lot of hard work and one needs to dedicate oneself completely to see it through. We have to do this to see the sport reach the heights we do believe it deserves.

‘Mohabbatein’, which marked your debut in Hindi cinema, completed 25 years of its release recently.

I was one of the fortunate few to have gotten a debut like this, to be trained like the way I did, to work with people like Aditya Chopra who worked so hard on us. It was a dream film to make a debut with. It is a character which people remember till date. When I step outside, a lot of people still recognize me as Kiran. I had a wonderful time shooting for the film. I will always remember those days very fondly.