Once upon a time, Preeti Shukla, who came out of her house from Lucknow with only thousand rupees, is now earning a lot of name in television and Bhojpuri cinema. At the Global Inspirational Awards held in Dubai, Preeti has received the Best Actress Award of the year for her outstanding work in Bhojpuri, Television and Music Industry. She says, “Meeting my fans in an unknown city like Dubai has been the best experience I have ever had. During this, I also realized that how social media makes an artist reach across the world in the blink of an eye.

After doing MSc in Chemistry, Preeti came to Mumbai to pursue a career in acting. She says, 'I was inclined towards acting during my studies in Lucknow. Started with modeling and when my first hoarding was put up in Lucknow and I got hundreds of congratulatory messages for it, my acquaintances encouraged me. It was only after this encouragement that I decided to come to Mumbai. My elder sister gave me one thousand rupees to come to Mumbai and I bought a train ticket and reached Mumbai. I am grateful to this city that I started getting good work as soon as I came here.

When asked about the first break, Preeti says, 'I got my first break in the serial 'Shiksha' directed by Siddharth Nagar, which aired on Doordarshan. All the veteran actors of their time worked in this serial. It was during the shooting of this that I also realized that acting is the name of constantly grooming yourself. Whatever I learned during this time, it is still working for me. After that I did a lot of work in different serials. Till now congratulatory messages keep coming for the serial 'Maddam Sir'. Now my steps have moved towards the big screen as well. After continuously working in Bhojpuri films, my first Hindi film 'Ek Ank' is also ready.

Preeti looks quite excited when the buzz around her stay in Dubai goes viral. She says, 'I have been to Dubai before as well, but it often happens that when I go there, I do not get time to go anywhere other than the program for which I go. This time I had already decided that I have to go to Burj Khalifa and have my photo taken there in saree. When I was roaming there wearing a saree, people praised me a lot for my Indian clothes and I felt very happy to meet my fans there.

Preeti Shukla, who made her debut on OTT with the web series 'Madhuri Talkies', aspires to do something good in the OTT space as well. She says, 'All the offers of OTT keep coming to me but I do not want to do any such web series or OTT original film which has body exposure, sex scenes etc. I believe actors can look beautiful, sensuous and sexy even in Indian wear. The song 'Aaj Rapat Jayne' from the film 'Namak Halal' is the most perfect example of this. I have been a fan of Hema Malini, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Nandita Das in dressing and acting and I want to grow like them.'Preeti has also recently shot a music video in Goa, starring the evergreen actor Dev. This is a cover version of the superhit song 'Jab Chhaye Mera Jadoo' from Anand's film 'Lootmar'.