Actress Preity Zinta feted in Virginia, gives distinguished service award to Dr. Suri Sehgal

Sehgal Foundation works for villagers in India.

By The American Bazaar Staff

WASHINGTON, DC: Bollywood actress Preity Zinta was feted at a special meet and greet program at the Aroma restaurant in Shirlington, Virginia.

The program, organized and hosted by Kavila Entertainment, saw around 200 people attend to meet the popular actress of Bollywood films like Veer Zara, Kal Ho Na Ho and Kya Kehna.

Zinta, dressed in blue jeans and a striped pullover, arrived to a red carpet welcome. She was treated to some of her own film song sequences from her films, presented by Dhoom Dance School of Virginia.

The dimpled beauty took questions from the audience. She smiled when asked what her favorite film was. She said she loved all her 37 films, but her first film, “Kya Kehna,” sill remained her favorite.

“That was my first film and my first love. After that comes Veer Zara and Kal Ho Na Ho,” said Zinta.

Born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, Zinta said she was a Rajput, originally from Rajasthan.  She had completed a master’s degree in psychology and would have become a criminal investigator or forensic scientist, if she had not become a film actress.

Talking about her own home production “Ishq in France,” which went through a lot of problems, Zinta said, “We shot that film in weather of two degrees to minus twenty three degrees Celsius in France.  We experienced one disaster after another, so the movie was delayed.”

She added: “My mother said, things happen, so take them in your stride.”

Talking about her latest film, Heaven on Earth, shot in Canada and which deals with domestic abuse, Zinta said she met Deepa Mehta, the director of the movie in London.

“Deepa asked me if I would do her new movie.  I thought it was an art film, I told her nobody watches art films. Mehta said it was not an art film, but a regular commercial film. So I agreed to do the film,” said Zinta.

“I enjoyed working in the film, except that my fellow actor slapped me in the film very hard that was painful and upsetting,” she added.

Zinta, who loves reading, said, “Behind every successful man there is a woman, but behind every unsuccessful man there are two women.” She laughed, and added: “All you men remember that.”

She reminded the audience that although they lived far away from home, but their thoughts were always with their homeland.

“My advice to all women is to love yourself, nobody will if you don’t.  People will treat you well if you treat yourself well. Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon,” she said.

Finally she said her message to everyone was, “live and let live and enjoy each day as life is short and very precious.”

Nilima Mehra of Global Television Network and Dr. Suri Sehgal, founder and chairman of Sehgal foundation were awarded for Distinguished Service by Zinta at the occasion. Geert Van Brandt took the award on behalf of Dr. Sehgal.   

Zinta presented the award to the Sehgal Foundation for their relentless rural development and women empowerment work in poor villages of India over the past 15 years.

Zinta was also informed that women of the Washington DC area will come together to advocate women-led water management in India. Community leader Lavika Bhagat Singh introduced the Sehgal Foundation.

Dr. Sehgal founded Sehgal Foundation in 1999 after he sold his seeds business to a large multinational.  Instead of adopting a rich lifestyle with the new-gained wealth, he and his family decided to give back to the poorest of the poor in rural India by helping them uplift themselves.

The Sehgal Foundation works with the villagers in various areas: water – because it permeates all critical aspects of life in the villages, from drinking, sanitation and irrigation; sustainable agricultural productivity – because it’s the foundation of the villagers’ livelihood; and capacity and governance – as it trains villagers to develop the skill and confidence to run active village institutions such as school committees, health committees, panchayats, and to become informed self-advocates for the development of their communities.

Lavika Bhagat Singh, who runs Kavila Entertainment, has earlier successfully presented Arijit Singh, Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan, Hard Kaur, Ghulam Ali, Pankaj Udhas, Talat Aziz, Shreya Ghoshal, Atif Aslam, Ustad Hamid A

li Khan, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Wolfgang Hilderbrandt, Strings and RagaBoyz in Washington.

The event was sponsored by Global TV Network, Sehgal Foundation, AEG international, Naureen Bokhari Photography, Rusha, Boxy Party, GirlYise, Trivision Studio, Huqa Live, Radio Pakora, Laila’s Studio, Sitara Khan Photography, Raheel Khan Photography and Aroma Restaurant.