When Preity Zinta said it was 'scary' to testify against underworld in court: 'Once they started abusing, I lost it'

Preity Zinta had once opened up about her experience of testifying in court against gangsters, who threatened her with extortion. She described it as a ‘scary’ experience.

Preity Zinta once opened up about her experience of testifying in court after receiving threat calls from underworld gangsters. During the shooting of the 2001 film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Preity told a court in Mumbai that she received calls asking for ₹50 lakh.

Preity Zinta had testified in court against gangsters when others backed out.  (Instagram)

In an interview almost two decades later, Preity talked about the incident and described it as ‘scary’. Apart from Preity, Bollywood celebrities such as Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rakesh Roshan and Mahesh Manjrekar, among others, also allegedly received extortion calls but they retracted their statements before appearing in court. Chori Chori Chupke Chupke producer Nazim Rizvi and financier Bharat Shah were accused of backing the film with funding from underworld gangster Chhota Shakeel.

Speaking to India Today at the India Today Conclave East 2018, Preity had said: "For the record, if I knew that everyone was going to back out, I also would have. It was a scary time in my life. I should have been protected. Whatever I said in court was on TV ten minutes later."

Preity revealed that while everyone on the sets of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was ‘paranoid’ anticipating threat calls, she dealt with it her own way. She decided to stand up against the gangsters when they became abusive: “I was fine till they were scaring me, but once they started abusing, I lost it. I can take stress, but not people abusing me. I learnt that if you get a call from +92, don't pick up! Luckily I was famous. Had I not been, it would've been tough.”

Explaining her reason behind deciding to testify in court while others backed out, Preity said, “I didn't have a family, I didn't have children.” Preity married Gene Goodenough in 2016 and the couple welcomed twins via surrogacy just last year.

Directed by Abbas–Mustan, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was delayed by several months as the CBI investigated the case. Preity Zinta co-starred with Salman Khan and Rani Mukerji in the movie.