Indian movie star Preity Zinta says she is an actress with a conscience

MUMBAI, India (AP) - Bollywood actress Preity Zinta says she has always used her fame as an actress to talk about crucial health and civic issues.

Zinta has been part of AIDS awareness drives as well as campaigns to clean up Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment hub formerly called Bombay.

"I don't have to be a bimbo. I can be a heroine and I can be socially aware,'' she told the Hindustan Times newspaper in an interview published Tuesday. "Even if two people listen to Preity Zinta, my job is done.''

Zinta joined campaigns to clear garbage off Mumbai's streets and repair potholed roads. She rounded up fellow actors to help clear overflowing garbage dumps in suburban Mumbai last year.

"As an actor, I have a certain platform,'' she said. "I don't want to use it only to ask the audience to go and see my film.''

Zinta has starred in several blockbusters in the nine years since her Bollywood debut. She played an ambitious magazine editor in a troubled marriage in her last movie, "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna,'' or "Never Say Goodbye.''-AP