Globetrotting, shooting and dating business tycoon Ness Wadia, Bollywood's chirpiest female superstar Preity Zinta says she has never been happier.

"I'm seeing Ness Wadia. But I'm not seeing much of him," complains Preity good-naturedly.

Preity is jet-lagging big time. She's also fuming with her mobile company for allegedly giving out her number to fans. "While I was in Australia, I'd get calls from people in Punjab at two in the morning."

She's just back from a three-month shooting stint in Australia. On the way, she stopped over in Amsterdam for the IIFA (India International Film Academy) Awards.

"But I was quite the odd one out there. Everyone was busy partying while I visited the museum to get savvy about one of my favourite personalities, Vincent Van Gogh. I spent about four hours in the museum. It was one of the most enriching experiences of my life."

At the museum, Preity ran into Shaad Ali and Sanjay Gadhvi.

"They wanted to know what I was doing there. I wanted to know the same," she chortles, catching up on some free time before she plunges into her next film "Jaan-e-Man" with Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan.

Speaking of the two Yashraj protégés, Shaad and Gadhvi, Preity has just completed a film with the production house.

"Siddhartha Anand who directed me in 'Salaam Namaste' is outstanding, definitely one of the best directors I've worked with. The best thing is, Saif Ali Khan and I get to mouth such incredibly funny lines, you know, not double meanings and stuff. But genuinely funny and credible lines."

While she was in Australia, rumours flew fast and furious, the major one being about her split with Ness Wadia, Nusli Wadia's son and the Bombay Dyeing heir. She refutes the rumour.

In fact Ness Wadia was in Australia during the last lap of her shooting, though not entirely for her sake. Business beckoned him to the kingdom of kangaroos. He hopped, skipped and jumped over to give Preity some quality company.

"Now when I'm back in Mumbai, he's in Singapore," she laments.

Of course, there's a future to the Wadia-Preity alliance. It just needs nurturing, and time.

Rumour number two from Australia: she fired her staff.

"Not quite. But my spot boy got awfully homesick midway through the schedule. He'd sob and beg to be sent back home. What could I do? I had to manage on my own for the rest of the schedule."

Preity says "Salaam Namaste" is a very urban love story that audiences will immediately connect with.

"You know, after 'Veer-Zara' I wondered where I should go. As far as being classically cool goes, no actress can go any further than Yash Chopra. So I had to go into a different direction.

"In 'Salaam Namaste' I got to be chic and cool. It isn't artificially cool. It's a really, really cool film. And I got to work with one of the coolest co-stars. Saif and I go back a long way.

"He was with me in my first film, 'Kya Kehna' and recently we chilled out doing 'Kal Ho Na Ho'. This is our first full-fledged feature together. And you've to see our chemistry.

"Saif is really adorable. He's one of my best friends. And to tell you the truth, I'd rather do films with friends than with people I don't get along with."

She's all set to do two back-to-back films. "For the first time I'll be shooting two films - Shirish Kunder's 'Jaan-e-Man' and Karan Johar's 'Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna' - simultaneously. Normally I shoot only one film at a stretch. But this time it can't be helped. And surely one can't be inflexible about such things.

"But the one thing that I won't do is shoot on Sundays. I need that one day to myself to keep me going for the rest of the week."