Preity Zinta Prospects

In 2007, following the failure of two of her commercial releases, Preity Zinta began working with art film directors, and turned towards neo-realistic movies, known in India as parallel cinema. She acted in her first English film, Rituparno Ghosh's The Last Lear, as a struggling film actress opposite Amitabh Bachchan. The film premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, and was received well. Later reviews in India were approving, with Rajeev Masand writing, "Preity Zinta gets through her scenes competently, never allowing her cute-as-a-button image to take away from the impact she makes here as a conflicted, mature woman." Preity Zinta said about her first art film, "I did think with art films that they don't pay you, they don't feed you, but I was wrong, and I'm so happy to be here."

Preity Zinta

Preity Zinta next starred in Samir Karnik's Heroes (2008), a road movie about two final-year film students who, as a part of their assignment, travel a thousand miles across North India to deliver three un-posted letters written by army personnel who lost their lives during the 1999 Kargil war to their families. The story unfolds the journey of these students in three chapters and follows how they meet and are inspired by the families of the soldiers. Preity Zinta is featured in the first chapter as Salman Khan's war widow, Kuljeet Kaur, a woman who becomes the sole breadwinner of the family and single-handedly raises her son. In preparation for the role, Preity Zinta attended Anupam Kher's acting school, "Actor Prepares", to learn the dialect and mannerisms of a Punjabi woman. The film was released to a mixed critical reaction, but her performance received rave reviews; Anand Singh of Hindustan Times wrote, "Karnik is merely interested in wringing tears the old-fashioned way, and not in starting a debate. He succeeds—mainly because Preity Zinta brings to a role a gravitas and dignity that is seen on the faces of ordinary women—this may be her coming of age as an actress."

Preity Zinta

By April 2008, Preity Zinta had completed shooting for Jahnu Barua's drama Har Pal. In the same year she played the leading role of Chand in Deepa Mehta's Canadian film Heaven on Earth, a Punjabi language mystical drama based on the true story of a young Indian woman who, post an arranged marriage to a non-resident Indian man from Canada, migrates to Toronto and becomes a victim of severe domestic abuse. Expressing her desire for "a new kind of acting challenge", Preity Zinta described Mehta as one director she was longing to work with in order to fulfill it. To prepare for the part, she read and watched several books and documentaries on domestic violence. As the film was to be shot entirely in Punjabi, a language that was totally alien to her, she learnt it in a crash course of fifty days. She was emotional during the making of the film: "I never knew a character would effect me so deeply. I've become completely withdrawn and introspective... I can't snap out of the character." She eventually called it her most challenging project, as it helped her "shed everything that Preity Zinta was about." Heaven on Earth was first screened at several film festivals and, upon release, garnered career-best reviews for Preity Zinta. Her performance earned her the Best Actress (Silver Hugo) award at the 2008 Chicago International Film Festival, for "her strong yet subtle performance as a woman struggling to keep her dreams despite brutal realities." Among other awards, she was acknowledged with Best Actress nominations at several award functions in Canada, including the Genie Award by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and the Vancouver Film Critics Circle.

Following Heaven On Earth, Preity Zinta took a two-year sabbatical from movies, later explaining that she had chosen to focus on her work with her cricket team. In 2011 she launched her own production company, PZNZ Media. She is set to star in the first film produced under the banner, Ishkq in Paris, a romantic comedy directed by Prem Soni. An Indo-French collaboration, the film will have Preity Zinta portraying a half-Indian half-French Parisian woman and will co-star several Indian and French actors. Preity Zinta's role required her to learn French and follow a strict diet and fitness regime, for which she hired the services of celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson. As of August 2011, Ishkq in Paris is slated for release on June 29, 2012.