Images instagrammed by Preity (R), Suchitra. (courtesy: PreityZinta)
New Delhi:
Suchitra Pillai, who is currently basking in the success of her new release The Broken News2, recalled when she was labelled as a “boyfriend snatcher” in an interview with Siddharth Kannan. In the same interview, Suchitra clarified that her husband Lars Kjeldsen dated Preity Zinta before their relationship started and she was not the reason behind their (Lars and Preity Zinta) break-up. Talking about her equation with Preity Zinta, Suchitra said, “No, that’s another story from somebody else. Preity and I were never friends, we were acquaintances because we had a common friend. But, yes, Lars Kjeldsen did date Preity Zinta for some time but that was the breakup he had before he met me and only this part is true. I didn’t come between them, they split up for a totally different reason.”
However, Suchitra was portrayed as a “boyfriend snatcher” by a section of media back in the day. Reflecting on the chain of events which led her being “labelled”, she said, “The big news that happened, which was a big misunderstanding, it was not because of me. It happened at the time I came back from England, I was called a ‘boyfriend snatcher’ on the cover of several magazines. The headline read, ‘Suchitra Pillai is a boyfriend snatcher.’ It was because I started dating Andrew Coyne, who had started Star Television in India. This was the relationship in question, but it was not because of me that Andrew and his partner and model Achala Sachdev fell apart. It is water under the bridge after many years and Achala and I have a laugh about it.”
Suchitra Pillai is mostly remembered for her role of a feisty girlfriend of Saif Ali Khan in Farhan Akhtar’s directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai. She also featured in films like Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II, Page 3, Pyaar Ke Side Effects, Fashion. She had an illustrious career on television as well. She acted in serials like Hip Hip Hurray, Ghar Jamai, Pradhan Mantri, 24.
Suchitra Pillai married Lars Kjeldsen in 2005. They are parents to a daughter Annika Kjeldsen. Meanwhile, Preity Zinta married Gene Goodenough in 2016. The couple became parents to twins Gia and Jai, via surrogacy in 2021.
