[14][15] Zinta often recalls that when she joined the film industry her friends teased her that she would typically "wear white saris and dance in the rain", thereby motivating her to seek unconventional parts.

"[36] Subhash K. Jha reflected in 2013 that Sangharsh marked a rare occasion in Hindi cinema at the time where a top male star played a secondary role to the leading lady.

[46] A review in The Hindu noted her for lending colour to an otherwise serious subject matter, and she shared similar sentiments about the character, citing its positive nature within the dark film as having sparked her interest in the part.

[48][52] Initially reluctant to play the part, she eventually accepted it at the directors' persuasion and, to prepare for it, visited several bars and nightclubs at Mumbai's red-light areas to study the lingo and mannerisms of sex-workers.

[64][65] Next followed Deepak Shivdasani's Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke, a romantic drama co-starring Ajay Devgn and Madhuri Dixit which was commercially and critically unsuccessful.

[22][27][66] In 2002, Zinta collaborated once again with director Kundan Shah, as the protagonist in the family drama Dil Hai Tumhaara, alongside Rekha, Mahima Chaudhry and Arjun Rampal.

[70][71] The Hero, co-starring Sunny Deol and Priyanka Chopra, is an action drama about a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) secret agent on a mission to gather intelligence about terrorist activity from across the border of Kashmir.

[71][75] She next starred in Honey Irani's directorial debut, Armaan; the drama is set in a hospital and follows the travails of its personnel and its principal, Dr. Akash (Anil Kapoor), who struggles arduously to sustain the institution financially and enters into a marriage of convenience to save it.

[78] Khalid Mohamed called her a "peppy scene-stealer, achieving her manic mood swings dexterously", and Vinayak Chakravorty of Hindustan Times concluded that she "takes over the script and, indeed, the film" with "a brilliant act".

[100] The film was a critical success, yet her performance received mixed reviews; Namrata Joshi of Outlook likened her to "a teenybopper trying to do a TV newsreading skit for her college fest",[101] and Rediff.com's Rajeev Pai observed that despite a good part, she only "does a fairly decent job of it without ever being spectacular".

[112] The film garnered negative reviews and poor box office returns,[27] and Subhash K. Jha found Zinta's work to be incompatible with her screen image and acting style.

[113][114] Critics and moviegoers were more appreciative that year of Siddharth Anand's comedy-drama Salaam Namaste, which saw Zinta and Saif Ali Khan as a contemporary cohabiting Indian couple in Australia dealing with an unexpected pregnancy.

[120] Zinta received a number of Best Actress nominations for playing the protagonist Ambar Malhotra, a single modern young woman who leaves India to make her own life in Melbourne and works as a radio host while studying medicine.

[115][23] Devyani Srivastava of Mid-Day considered the independent, strong-minded character of Ambar to be a rare Hindi film heroine, and Taran Adarsh argued that Zinta had given "her most accomplished performance to date".

[121][122] Anita Gates of The New York Times noted Ambar's negative shades but admired Zinta's positive personality, by which she remains likable even despite uncharitable traits in her characters.

[120] Revolving around two unhappily married couples in New York, the film featured Zinta as Rhea Saran, an ambitious fashion magazine editor whose husband begins an adulterous affair with a family acquaintance.

[127] Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna polarised critics, but The Indian Express approved of Zinta's effort, noting her for having "walked with poise, sat with grace, smiled with composure and spoken with calmness".

[140] Zinta played Shabnam, a struggling film actress working on a new project opposite Shakespearean actor Harish Mishra (Bachchan) in the midst of a turbulent relationship with her possessive husband.

[141][142] Later reviews in India were approving, with Rajeev Masand writing that she "gets through her scenes competently, never allowing her cute-as-a-button image to take away from the impact she makes here as a conflicted, mature woman".

"[146] Zinta next starred in Samir Karnik's Heroes (2008), a three-chapter road movie about two film students who, as part of an assignment, travel across North India to deliver three un-posted letters written by army personnel who lost their lives during the 1999 Kargil war to their families.

[147] The film was released to a mixed critical reaction, but her performance received rave reviews; Anand Singh of Hindustan Times wrote: "Karnik is merely interested in wringing tears the old-fashioned way, and not in starting a debate.

[169] Following a five-year sabbatical, Zinta starred opposite Sunny Deol as an aggressive Varanasi-based wife in Neeraj Pathak's action comedy Bhaiaji Superhit (2018).

[172] In 2020, Zinta appeared alongside Vir Das in an episode of the American sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, titled "The Magic Motor Inn"; she was set to reprise her role in a spin-off series, centered around her character's family,[173][174] but it eventually did not materialise.

[187] "The Unforgettable Tour" (2008) saw Zinta performing with the Bachchan family and Ritesh Deshmukh in a forty-day show staged in eleven cities across North America, Europe and the Caribbean.

"[192] Later that year Zinta started hosting the celebrity-based chat show Up Close & Personal with PZ, shot at her own penthouse in Mumbai and broadcast on the newly launched channel UTV Stars.

[205] Later in the year, she joined the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) as their Goodwill Ambassador in India, to promote public awareness on HIV prevention, treatment and support, with emphasis on women and children, and combat discrimination against it.

[244] These features were noted during the Bharat Shah case, when she testified against the underworld; following this incident she was often called by journalists "the only man in Bollywood", a label she was unhappy with for its underlying misogynist connotations.

[245] Author and columnist Shobhaa De, while commending her for lodging a molestation complaint against Ness Wadia in 2014, expressed concern regarding Zinta's repeated quest for justice, believing it could eventually play against her: "India is not terribly kind to strong-willed, outspoken women who are dubbed 'trouble makers' if they dare to raise their voices, especially against men.

"[249][22] In a review of Salaam Namaste, Australian film critic Jake Wilson observed, "While Preity Zinta isn't the subtlest actress, she's quite a comedienne – for a Hollywood equivalent to her combination of beauty, high-strung emotion and facial gymnastics you might have to go back to Natalie Wood.

[127][252] These roles were cited by critics as having contributed to a new image for Indian screen women by means of departure from the conventional parts previously played by leading actresses in mainstream Hindi films.