Preity Zinta, one of the most popular and bubbly Bollywood actors of the 2000s, is celebrating her 46th birthday today. On her special day, here is an interesting anecdote on how she took up a career in the film industry. Did you know Preity would not have taken up a career in films if a coin toss had gone otherwise? Preity was offered a role in  Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Tara Rum Pum Pum’ and left the decision to fate. The actor might not have taken up the offer, ‘just for style’, if the tails side of the coin would have come up.

Preity had shared this story on Rendezvous With Simi Garewal and had said, “It sounds like the perfect story, but no. I think when I met Shekhar, when he wanted to sign me up for Tara Rum Pum Pum, I was just like this little kid looking at Shekhar Kapur. And I just wanted to be cool, so I said, ‘Okay if it’s destiny then I’ll just flip this coin. I said, ‘Heads, I will take film as a career and tails, I won’t’.”

When Simi asked Preity what she would have done if she got tails, she replied, “I wouldn’t have signed that film. I promise you.” Simi was taken aback by Preity’s answer and asked her if she really took a film offer so lightly, to which she smiled and said, “Just for style, anything for style at that point.”

For the uninformed, ‘Tara Rum Pum Pum’ eventually got shelved and Preity made her Bollywood debut with Mani Ratnam’s ‘Dil Se’ opposite Shah Rukh Khan. Years later, ‘Ta Ra Rum Pum’ was made by the director, Siddharth Anand, and with a different cast – Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji.

In an old interview with Hindustan Times, Preity said that it was ‘destiny’ that she was not a part of ‘Tara Rum Pum Pum’. Preity was also asked if she was hurt about not being approached for the film, to which she had replied saying, “For once I was quiet. The only thing that came out from my mouth was, ‘Oh’. Years ago, I went around telling everyone that I’m doing a film titled Tara Rum Pum Pum. Now I can’t.”