Playing the Ms butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her mouth kind of roles on 70 mm might get them box-office returns, but the devout, Indian look doesn’t make them hit news headlines or become postergirls.
So, Mumbai tinseltown’s beauties sometimes go in for an image makeover to make heads turn. The bharatiya nari image doesn’t always work. Kareena Kapoor started off a fashion trend when she dropped a few kilos to get into a bikini for Tashan.
Soha Ali Khan raised eyebrows and even upset her proetective big brother Saif Ali Khan when she got herself a sexy look for a magazine cover. After years of playing the good girl, Amisha Patel got a brand new look for her cameo in Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic.
Telly bahus Sangeeta Ghosh and Shweta Salve have chucked their good girl image and are looking bold, brazen and ravishing in their debut film, Bhanvra. Even petite Amrita Rao seems to have finally gotten tired after playing girl next-door and tries to get herself a glam makeover, while even Priyanka Chopra gets into the beach babe mood in Dostana.
What makes Bollywood divas get glam and shed clothes and their conservative screen image almost overnight? “What’s wrong about showing off a bit skin? Actresses have been wearing skimpy clothes for years, we are more casual about it now,” says actress Sangeeta Ghosh. “I did ‘bold scenes’ because the script demanded that,” points out Sangeeta. “I believe that if you are comfortable then there is nothing wrong in it. I always do things that I believe are right for me,” chips in Shweta, who has done some ‘hot, hot’ bikini scenes in her debut film.
But do filmmakers want their leading ladies to look ‘glam and sexy’ or do the actresses offer to flaunt skin? “Of course, the filmmaker asked me to wear a bikini and I had no reservations,” says Shweta. The only problem shrugging off a glam image is not easy.
Ask Mallika Sherawat, Neha Dhupia, Celina Jaitley and their ilk, how they have been caught in that image trap for years now. “No film works because the leading lady is wearing skimpy clothes. Ultimately, you have to act,” affirms Sangeeta. It is official, every top star from Rani Mukerji to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have got into the glam mode more than once in recent times to woo the audience. It becomes a matter of surging ahead of competitors. Malaika Arora Khan feels it is “very important to keep changing one’s image because this is the only way you will sustain in this business”.
In the race to look glam and scorching, actresses seem to have no qualms about shedding a few inhibitions, if it brings them rich returns. So, who’s next on the going glam brigade, we wonder!
