F E AT U R E
Preeti
goes to Hollywood
(via Boro and Bollywood)
Tees Life meets the Bollywood star who’ll never
lose touch with her Teesside roots…
WO R D S: M I C HA E L M C G E A RY
PI CT U R E S: C HR I S B OOT H
S
“My first assignment was modelling on the cover of
he’s lit up Bollywood and now has her sights set on
conquering Hollywood, but self-proclaimed “northern L’Officiel, a huge international magazine. The next two years
were crazy. I walked for all the fashion designers and did
lass” Preeti Desai loves nothing more than coming
campaigns, shoots and endorsements around the world. It
back home for a hike up Roseberry Topping and to snack
was a huge jump from working in a nine-to-five job.”
on a Greggs pasty.
Preeti grew up in Coulby Newham, where dad Jitu and
The Middlesbrough-born former beauty queen enjoys
mum Hema ran two corner shops. She left Nunthorpe
a glamorous life in Los Angeles, filming, modelling and
School at the age of 16 without knowing what she wanted
mixing with the stars at Oscars’ night parties.
to do with her life. “I wasn’t great
Whenever her busy schedule
at school, I was diagnosed with
allows it, though, she returns to
“The first thing you
attention deficit disorder and
her beloved Teesside to be with
notice about Preeti Desai really struggled to concentrate,”
her family and friends – and you’ll
she says.
often find her slaving behind the
is her long legs, model
She undertook a beauty
counter of her mum and dad’s busy
physique and huge, doe-
course at Kirby College in
fireworks shop.
like brown eyes. Then she Middlesbrough – often popping
Preeti shot to national
into the nearby Linthorpe pub
prominence in 2007 when the
opens her mouth and a
after lessons – before working in
reigning Miss Cleveland was
thick northern English
Isis, within Psyche, where she did
crowned Miss Great Britain in
everything from massages and
a public vote after the original
accent bursts out…”
facials to nails and waxing, while
winner was disqualified over an
– ESQUIRE MAGAZINE
dreaming of opening her own
undeclared relationship with one
salon.
of the judges.
“I loved it because I loved my
She was the first woman of
colour to win the prestigious title – and soon top Bollywood clients,” she beams. “But there was always something inside
me thinking ‘This can’t be it’. I stopped working and spent a
agents and casting directors were beating a path to the door
year trying to work out what I wanted to do and it was then
of her Guisborough home.
that Miss GB happened.”
“Anyone who knows me will say I’m not a typical beauty
Life would never be the same again. She made her feature
pageant kind of girl,” she laughs disarmingly when we meet
film debut in 2011 thriller Shor In The City, earning rave
at Middlesbrough’s Artizan cocktail bar during her latest
reviews from critics and audiences alike, and then in 2014
trip home. “But winning the title put me on a platform and
she landed her first leading role, in One by Two, opposite
I received all kinds of offers from India.
Indian superstar Abhay Deol, at that time her real-life
“I hadn’t even thought of getting into film. I thought,
boyfriend. She was soon a familiar face and was named in
‘Can I even act?’ But I took a risk and went to Bombay.
the Times of India’s 50 Most Desirable Women.
You’ve got to be brave sometimes. I signed with one of the
“Living in Bombay changes you and opens your eyes,”
biggest agents and spent three months doing acting classes
says Preeti.
and learning Hindi.
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