Happy Birthday, Preity!

Preity Zinta - the vivacious, dimple-cheeked Bollywood star - celebrates her 33rd birthday today, with greater confidence in her abilities and demonstrating a little known business acumen, with the recent bagging of the franchise of the Mohali team in cricket's Indian Premier League.

Preity would have had a big do to mark the occasion, had her professional commitments not come in the way, according to a source close to her.

However, she has ensured that the 'big day' in her life is not all work and no play!

She will celebrate, but it will be a quiet one. Who are included in her private party's guest list is also kept under wraps, to avoid media scrutiny.

One person, who will stand beside Preity to cheer her, and sing "Happy Birthday To Dear Preity" the loudest will be her beau, Ness Wadia - the scion of the Wadia family - who runs Bombay Dyeing.

Professionally - after a decade in the industry - Preity is now bold enough to tread on uncharted territories with a rare confidence, to ensure that, she carves her own niche in Bollywood and of course, with an eye on Hollywood.

Indeed, she has accepted the challenge of movies like Deepa Mehta's forthcoming venture, Heaven On Earth and Jahnu Barua's Har Pal, movies that are far away from Bollywood's commercial standards.

In both the movies - due for release in the first half of 2008 - Preity will surprise her fans and audiences alike, portraying far less glamorous roles than she has ever played in the past.

On a personal note: I met her at the Kya Kehna promotional event (her first movie as an actress in a challenging role) in 2000, when I was working for Times Of India.

She came across as a sweet woman, who loves to interact with kiddos (she played with them all the time, while she was there in the office!) and also knows her mind in speaking about matters, which are close to her heart.

Bollywood Buzz wishes Preity Zinta a very Happy Birthday :o)