Abhay Deol engaged to Preeti Desai

Abhay Deol gets engaged to model Preeti Desai

Get the box of tissues ready, girls. The buzz has it that Abhay Deol has secretly gotten engaged with his beauty queen girlfriend.

Abhay has been dating model Preeti Desai, former Miss Great Britain, for quite some time. Reports suggest Abhay and Preeti exchanged rings at a hush- hush function, with only their parents and close friends present at the do.

But the couple is not in the mood to make the engagement public. A mole tells us doing so will dent Preeti's appeal at a time when she is all set to make her Bollywood debut.

Preeti, who created history by becoming the first woman of colour to win the Miss Great Britain title in 2006, is all set to make her Hindi film industry debut in Ekta Kapoor's upcoming production, Shor In The City.

She was recently in the news for shooting a steamy love scene for the film with her American- Indian co- star, Sendhil Ramamurthy, who is best known in India as one of the lead actors of the TV show, Heroes.

Shor In The City - which has been screened at several film festivals such as those in New York, Pusan and Dubai - will hit theatres on April 28.

A tinselville source elaborates on the couple's reluctance to make the engagement public.

" Despite all the cosmetic changes, the Bollywood audience is still conservative about accepting an engaged or married actress. That could be the reason why Abhay and Preeti want to hide the engagement. They have not even sported the rings yet," the source says.

Abhay met Preeti at the success party of his 2009 hit, Dev. D, and hit it off. Preeti, who was born in Middleborough in the UK, subsequently shifted base to Mumbai with Bollywood dreams. She has reportedly been living together with Abhay in his Juhu flat for more than a year now.

Sources say her tinsel town dreams apart, Preeti's relationship with Abhay was a major reason why she decided to shift to India.

"They realised it was difficult to maintain a long- distance relationship. For a while, they decided to part ways as a couple but stayed in touch as friends. Their love was rekindled after Preeti shifted to Mumbai with a few plum modelling assignments in her kitty. Being a good friend, Abhay helped her settle down in the city. They then started dating again," the source says.

So far, Abhay and Preeti have maintained a ' no- comment' stand on their relationship in the press. However, their love has been an " open secret" in industry circles.

" At a recent party hosted by Ekta Kapoor, Preeti and Abhay appeared together and could not take their eyes off each other," our source says.

Professionally, Abhay has a busy year ahead. He will be seen in Zoya Akhtar's mega- budget road thriller Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara, which also stars Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin.

He is also gearing up for Dibakar Banerjee's Shanghai as well as the crossover drama Junction. He also plans to make his debut as a producer with Navdeep Singh's Basra.