Happy birthday Preity Zinta: Did you know the Liril ad wasn’t her first? Here’s what she made her debut with

Preity Zinta actually made her debut with an ad for Perk chocolates. Watch the video here.

Actor Preity Zinta her birthday on Thursday. The actor who has given stellar performances in films like Veer Zaara, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Sangharsh, Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya, turns 44 on January 31. In her career spanning almost 20 years, Preity worked in as many as three dozen movies. Many know that she made her acting debut with Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se in 1998 and we met her even before that in the iconic Liril ad. However, the Liril ad was still not her first appearance on screen.

Preity Zinta has been part of many commercials throughout her career.

Preity recently shared the commercial she made her debut with in 1996, an ad for Perk chocolates. “People always ask me how I started my career? It was with this perk commercial! So I can say confidently that my journey into entertainment started sweetly with a chocolate #throwback #memories #throwbackthursday #Ting,” she captioned a video on Instagram. In it, she is seen on a hunger strike while secretly munching on chocolates.

She said in an interview to The Times of India in 2006 that it was her first appearance onscreen. “My first ad for Perk chocolates happened purely by chance. I was at a friend’s birthday party where I met Kunal, an ad filmmaker. Two days later, he called me saying that he had written an ad script keeping me in mind. He forced me to come for auditions. Although I was apprehensive, I thought what harm could come from just auditioning - there would be five people there and why would anybody pick me? Only. instead of five, there were 50, and I got selected after saying just two lines with the chocolate in hand,” she said.

Watch her in the ad for Liril:

Preity went on to feature in the Liril commercial and was also roped in for a film with Shekhar Kapur, one that never took off. She then worked on her first film, Dil Se. She starred opposite Shah Rukh Khan in the film which featured her in a small role. However, her work caught the attention of many filmmakers and moviegoers. She then worked with Bobby Deol in Soldier which was a certified hit. Her later projects included Kya Kehna, Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega, Mission Kashmir, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke and others.

She now owns a team in the Indian Premier League, is married to Gene Goodenough and was recently seen with Sunny Deol in Bhaiyyaji Superhit.

Follow @htshowbiz for more