Born in Ajmer and having her familial roots in Lucknow, Priya Jethani grew up in Dubai. Armed with a degree in Marketing from the University of Wollongong in Dubai, she was all set for a career in the corporate world. However, destiny had other plans for her. While Priya was always attracted to cinema and the glamour industry, she had never imagined to be a part of it someday. But, as they say, your destiny always takes you where your heart wants to go.
Hosting the very popular lifestyle show ‘Zee Connect’ on ZEE TV ME proved to be a very good start to her career and Priya was soon hosting some of the biggest shows and events across the world. Being one of the most popular anchors in the UAE, she is one of the first people who get the opportunity to interview Bollywood celebrities when they land up in Dubai.
About her experience of interviewing Bollywood stars, she says, “Bollywood has a huge fan base in Dubai, so you see Hindi film actors coming here very often for events and shows. When Bollywood stars come to the UAE, I get to interview them first as I represent Zee at most events. Because of the Covid-19 situation and the travel restrictions, there was a gap in between but now, they have started coming again. A R Rahman and Sunidhi Chauhan are some of the celebrities I interviewed recently.”
From Shah Rukh Khan to Ranveer Singh to Alia Bhatt, Priya has interviewed all the major Bollywood stars.
“My favourite interview is the one I did with Shah Rukh Khan. He is an interviewer’s delight. He is humble, witty and a great person to talk to. Among the younger stars, Ranveer Singh and Varun Dhawan are extremely warm and humble. When I interviewed Ranveer, he was in his usual bubbly self. Varun is a nice and sweet person to talk to. I distinctly remember the interview I did with Salman Khan two and a half years back during his Da-Bangg Tour. A lot of people say he is moody but I found him to be very pleasant. His answers were very entertaining”, she says.
While most of the interviews that Priya has done have been interesting, there have been quite a few that didn’t turn out to be as memorable.
Recalling a few such instances, she says, “I remember looking forward to this particular interview with a light-eyed superstar and expecting some great answers from him. For some reason, he was not in a good mood that day. Maybe, it was because of the many controversies he was mired in at that point of time. He was extremely reserved throughout the interview and replied in monosyllables.”