Sunday, July 22, 2001		Movie Magic

New beauty on the block
Madhur Mittal

VERY genuinely, very honestly, I have a (candid) confession to make: Looking at model-turned-actress Hrishitaa Bhatt’s face ‘n‘ figure, I can’t help wishing that I’d been born a female — maybe her twin, (lookalike) sister or something! I mean, how can anyone be so beautiful... as in gorgeous ?

No wonder Bollywood biggies are virtually falling over each other to sign Hrishitaa up... before she starts giving shoot dates in 2005! This wild stampede is very understandably, inevitably justified. Trust me, because she is the kind of girl who trapezes into tinsel town once in green moon, hey! So, those days of doing ads, (remember her as the vivacious Liril girl!) and music videos are now history for Hrishitaa. Today, she’s rubbing her smooth, shapely shoulders with the likes of Abhishek Bachchan (in Gurdev Bhalla’s Shararat) and Shah Rukh Khan (in Santosh Sivan’s Asoka) to mention but two!

Ms Gorgeous loves perfumes by Estee Lauder, shades by KBN, cosmetics by Shahnaz Hussain, clothes by Armani and footwear by Ponti. Lingerie! She laughs and shakes a fair finger (manicured by Maybelline, mebbe!) "The truth is, I simply love the good things in life... and I must thank God that I’ve always got them..."

Now, can you see why I’m so envious of Hrishitaa Bhatt being Hrishitta Bhatt!

If my memory serves me well, then Parveen Babi was the first Hindi film heroine who opted for an alternative career in interiors for the rich and the famous, right? And then it was Pooja Bedi’s turn to do ditto, okay? All of a sudden, one heard of quite a few other leading ladies ‘rushing’ into this new-found profession with a view to using their ‘filmi’ fame to attract clientele with megabucks — in order to make megabucks!

Pooja Bhatt, Ayesha Jhulka, Rati Agnihotri, Sushmita Sen, Amrita Singh, etc, were all, at one time or the other, also mentioned in this mould ‘n’ make movement...

And now, ladies ‘n’ gentlemen, it’s none other than the sexy Twinkle Bhatia (nee Khanna) who is gonna do up your digs! In combo with the well-known Hafeez Contractor, she plans to "give Mumbaikars something not only to dream about, but actually possess". So, if you wanna have the Twinkle in your living room or bedroom, remember, she’s now just a phonecall away..........!

Methinks Juhi Mehta (nee Chawla) is going around jumpy like a cat on a hot tin roof, of late. Looks as though her ‘labour pains’ have really started after the birth of her baby girl, y’ know!

Like, to begin with (the champagne celebrations being over) she suddenly realised that her "sho-shweet bundle of joy" was more than two handsful! And that coping with all the necessary motherly duties (and responsibilities) was, slowly but surely, making her start climbing the walls! That an efficient/loving/reliable/honest and caring maid was the desperate need of the hour, was writ large on her face... and the ceiling! (Oh yes, the maid also had to be a vegetarian, non-smoker, non-boozer, "most hygeinic"... And absolutely no boyfriends, please!)

Innumerable interviews have since taken place. I’m not sure whether Juhiji has been able to find the "dream maid" so far... but, at least, she has, in the chaotic meantime, resolved another (vexing) predicament — of deciding a name for Juhi ‘baby’. The cherubic li’l one has been formally ‘n’ finally named Jhaanvi. Congrats!

Ah! That reminds me. The stork is apparently doing overtime for Bollywood’s brides-that-were and are now (precariously) poised ‘n’ primed as moms-in-the-making. After all, how long can Mother Nature’s babbling bounties be kept at bay, huh?

Denying the baby/baba boom are Kajol, Suzanne, Sheeba... and Madhuri. Look, I haven’t personally bumped into La Dixit for sometime now, but almost everybody who has, has the same happy news to break: "Madhuri is pregnant, you know, and she’s simply glowing like never before!" Why, then, when everyone is saying "Yes", is Mrs Nene hollering "No, No! Koi Jawab hai, kya.....???