The offer was to model -- where all she had to do was rub a little vaseline on her lips and face the camera wearing the clothes of a Swedish catalogue company. For the under-13 section.

Her next assignment was with ace lensman Prabuddha Dasgupta for the BPL refrigerators ad. "Around the same time, I also shot a few ads in the Middle East and Dubai. But in terms of popularity, my first big campaign has to be the Perk commercial." Yes, it's hard to forget her bubbling with mischief, multi-dimpled face sneaking a bite of choco-delight in the midst of a college hunger strike.

But while Perk got her instant recognition, it was the Liril ad that made her a celebrity. Today, however, she looks back on that campaign with anger. "I've beenexploited by the agency -- they didn't give me part of the money they'd promised. Moreover, I had a two-year contract with them -- this was three years ago, and they're still running the ad! I think it's time I took some action."

What was fun though, was shooting the ad. Looks like Preity loves water and getting soaked to the skin was her idea of fun. By then she had also decided to pursue films and even before the ad was released she had signed on Shekhar Kapur's Tara Rum Pum Pum. While that film never got made, Zinta found good fortune in Dil Se.. and Soldier. Touted as the next big star, Preity's forthcoming releases include Tanuja Chandra's Sanghursh, Kundan Shah's Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai?, Tere Ishq Mein Pagal Re alongside Govinda, Raj Kanwar's Farz and Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega with Salman Khan. Will the water baby sink or swim?

--Deepa Deosthalee