Bollywood : Chiseled Bodies, What Else?

During the release of the ill-fated Fitoor  I saw Katrina Kaif eulogizing over her  co-star Aditya Roy Kapoor’s newly-sculpted physique which he has flaunted with generous abundance in the freezing now of Kashmir.Aditya  being a perfect gentleman , reciprocated. He spoke…no, not about Katrina’s chiseled body (Bhai se maar khani hai kya?!) but her beautiful face.

This you-praise-my-face-I-praise your-body suits the two shallow non-actors’ intentions just fine.We’ve hit upon a generation of actors who pay a lot of attention to physicality, and very little to anything else that may define their personality.Just watch Arjun Kapoor do the sporty-host on Khatron Ke Khiladi. He is seen to be bursting with restless energy, raring to go…where, I don’t know.

Siddharth Malhotra is often seen shirtless ,and in New Zealand  bungee jumping and going all the outdoor stuff that would make him an ideal ambassador for activities that do not require audiences to sit cooped up in a theatre for two hours.

Does anyone remember any memorable  performances from any of these fun-loving master of  the good times?

Alia Bhatt whom I consider among the better new-age actors,  recently fell sick on the sets. She is probably starving herself to look as thin as…well, I guess as thin as her sister Pooja Bhatt never did.In less than two years that spark has gone from Alia’s eyes.She probably counts her calories more often than her blessings.

Poor thing. Can you imagine what it must like to not enjoy your food at 23? Mid-life crisis in the spring of your life?

I honestly blame it on the guru of anorexia Karan Johar. He made the starve-to-slim-nirvana theory a throbbing reality.Cunning man. Every time I visited Mumbai he would take me out to a meal and order the most sumptuous item on the menu and just watch me eat. So when do you eat, Karan? I’d ask him.He would smile mysteriously.That’s a question that continues to haunt me.

Parineeti Chopra was the exception to the rule. In a world rapidly filling up with quasi-anorexic Barbie dolls and baba dolls who live to diet, she was wholesome and real. She enjoyed pizzas.Until she decided to get as slim and sexy as her screen sisters.Tummy pulled in, cheeks sucked in , Parineeti is now the archetypal Bollywood queen whose mouth opens never to eat, only to talk about how harmful eating is to the aspirational Size Zero.

Coming back to the ‘chiselled’ duo Ms Kaif and Mr Kapoor in Fitoor, I just want to tell them that cinema is not  about stunningly-toned bodies. It was about full-blooded healthy and wholesome  characters  who enjoyed life to the fullest.

Taking off the shirt is not even halfway there to a  good performance. How about working out half an hour less at the gym and using that time to work on your diction?