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Shilpa Shetty on a roll again
 Shilpa Shetty is back on a roll, after almost being considered a chapter in history. Or to put it in another way, Ms. Shetty has staged a return just as she was being written off.
The damsel who shot up to stardom after being tossed down a high-rise building by the vengeful Shah Rukh Khan in Baazigar has had a career chequered by downs more than ups. But for Dhadkan , Shilpa Shetty's meatier roles and performances went unsung, while her few successful films saw her only boost the decorative quotient, or steam in with a sizzling item number.
But 2004 promises good stuff from her. Garv may have been butchered by its own violence, but Shilpa's abbreviated act in abbreviated clothing as the bar-dancer ladylove of the hero has made heads turn, and then nod in approval. And Shilpa is set to release two of her career-best performances before the year is out, as a very 2004 woman in Revathi's Phir Milenge and as the high-society escort girl in Khamosh.
Excerpts from an interview:
2004 is being touted as your comeback year. Are you happy about a so-called return when you haven't gone away?
I have never gone away, but people want to believe it, because I have not had a release for over a year, except for the cameo in Darna Mana Hai . Besides, they have been busy writing me off as well!
But isn't it a new phase in your career
Yes, definitely. Phir Milenge is a paradigm shift, and I do see a reinvention there. You will not see the usual me in it, which is a good thing after you have spent over a decade here. The fact that people still accept and want to watch me is a huge compliment.
What are your roles in these films like?
In Phir Milenge , I play the creative head of an ad agency. So I am a very assertive, a very 'today' woman, who comes up trumps after fighting a very traumatic tumultuous crisis in her life.
Phir Milenge is about AIDS, but it is not a grim film. It has a very strong message without being preachy. It is also a beautiful love story and its strongest point is its content and Revathy's conviction. I think. I go without make-up in the film and went to the extent of cutting hair short so as to make the character look real. A wig wouldn't have given the same authenticity.
Your mother has this yen for collecting Ganesh idols. What do you collect?
Shoes and sunglasses! (laughs). I also have one dog, two cats, a turtle, and my mother has also kept a fish tank in my home because of Feng Shui.
Your mom is also an astrologer. What has she predicted for you?
My mother did tell me in my down phases that I was not out - not till I chose to accept defeat. But she spoke as a mother too, not just astrologically. She has also been very frank and impartial about things, and spares no criticism if my performance or my film is bad.
And I do believe in Destiny. I may fail to understand how directions of wind and so on can change the direction of your life, but I guess that the vastu and feng shui are well thought of, because I have seen and experienced the various changes that have happened in my own home because of them.
What about numerology?
I will not tamper with my name. When I came in, they told me that Shilpa Shirodkar was this sex icon and I should get another first name. I refused - and I am still here!
As an elder sister, what is your assessment of sister Shamita's professional progress?
I think that she can only choose of what comes to her, right? Shamita's sensibilities are something that I trust.
You are an example in fitness. What are your food preferences?
I am a complete foodie! I do work out, yes. But it's more important to feel good about yourself. I eat everything, but eat healthy. At the same time, I can give up dinner but not desserts like malai kulfi! Main bahut accha khaati hoon, zayaada khaati hoon! (Guffaws).
What about love and marriage?
Yeah, I was planning to get married. But I could not find the right guy! (Laughs uproariously) But seriously - Help! The press is always trying to marry me off. They say that you run after something it runs away from you, so I better not try, right? In any case, I think that a right person happens - at the right place at the right time. Right now, I want to concentrate on work, which has only got better - how many heroines are in the running after ten years?
Does that imply that you will not work after marriage?
No, it does not. Besides, when I marry, the decision to quit films, keep working or restrict my work should be entirely my own. My man should be someone who leaves that to me and does not decide things for me. If you are planning to ask next what my dreamboat should be like, maybe that's the prime requirement - he should respect my identity and my decisions as an individual.
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Rajiv Vijayakar
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