Toronto, Sept 07: The dimpled damsel of Bollywood, Preity Zinta, has effortlessly gone from being a star of hyped-up, big-budget crowd-pullers to an actress to take on the challenge of lending her name and talent to films rooted in the real world and its myriad issues.

Deepa Mehta`s "Heaven on Earth," in which Zinta plays a battered Punjabi housewife in Canada who is a victim of domestic violence has just had its world premiere in Toronto.

Banish the thought, she asserts "Popular Hindi cinema is my bread and butter," she said here on the sidelines of the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival. "The only thing that has changed is that today there is space for all kinds of cinema in the multiplexes in India. The demographics are no longer the same and I can now afford to do films of all hues."

"I am first and foremost a commercial Bollywood star and I absolutely love doing fluffy entertainers where I need to do five costume changes in the course of one song," she said. "But if I can add weight to an issue-based film like Heaven on Earth and help it reach more people, I am all for it."

Sharing the experiences that she had during the Heaven on Earth shoot in Brampton, Ontario, Zinta admitted it wasn`t an easy film to do. "For one, I had never done a film in the Punjabi language. I was petrified. I had to work hard to internalise the character of a vivacious girl who becomes a victim of domestic violence. Deepa put us through a workshop. That really helped," she said.

"Heaven on Earth isn`t only about domestic violence. It is also about the immigrant experience as a whole. For me, it is also about the spirit, inner strength and imagination of a simple woman who rises above her lot in life. It is also about hope as much as it is about despair."

Bureau Report