What makes Malaika the ultimate Bollywood spice girl

She is,rather,Bollywood’s Shakira of “item” numbers,the Item No. 1. A 35-year-old mother of a seven-year-old son,and still the stuff of male fantasy: when she teases a small town in Uttar Pradesh to distraction as Munni in Dabangg,the front-benchers and multiplex janta go wild. She is also,by the way,the producer of Dabangg Malaika will forgive you for letting that fact slip. “With me it’s always the songs… it’s for my “item” numbers that I’ll be part of this country’s cinema library.”

It all started on top of a train. The year was 1998 and the film Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se. Malaika did the Chhaiyya chhaiyya Shah Rukh Khan and we all know how that turned out. Twelve years later,the “item number” is alive,though perhaps not flourishing,and she is still at the top,offered “a song a day toh pucca”. It’s a fact of the business: if an “item” song is the masala your film needs,Malaika is the go-to girl. In an industry where leading ladies turn into wallflowers in less than half a decade,what’s the secret of the dream run? “She’s sexy,she’s beautiful and she’s a very good dancer,” says choreographer and director Farah Khan,“but then so are a lot of girls out there.” The difference,Farah says,is in the way she has planned her career. “Malaika has an edge because she has chosen her assignments wisely,maintained her exclusivity and is extremely professional. That’s the reason she has lasted so long,” she says. That,and the backing of one of Bollywood’s most powerful film families.

The “item” number business started as a lark for the Khan bahu? make-up artiste Mickey Contractor suggested her name to Farah Khan,then on the lookout for a dancer who could hold her own against Shah Rukh Khan in Dil Se. After that romp on a train hurtling through a lush Ooty countryside,her decisions have been well thought out. She is serious about her “item queen” tag,meticulous about rehearsals and,more importantly,will not shimmy-shine in every other movie.

Her recent big hit,though,was not part of the plan. Husband Arbaaz Khan heard the first scratch of the song and called his wife: “I’ve found my Munni.” A clueless Malaika had no idea who Munni was. “He came home and made me listen to the song. He told me I should dance in this song with Salman. I was hesitant but Arbaaz convinced me that only I could do the song,” she says. Four days in a Mumbai studio,some serious rehearsals and a nasty fall from a hand-rickshaw went into whipping up all that oomph on screen.

A lot more went into her performance in Kaal dhamaal (Kaal,2005),which marked the return of the Dil Se team? SRK,Malaika and Farah. You might remember it as the first song in which Six- Pack Khan went almost topless,for Malaika it was a personal triumph.

She shot the song eight months after the birth of her son,Arhaan. Producer Karan Johar had given her a month’s time to get back into shape and so Malaika hit the gym,unbelievably,for the first time. “I had to look my best and I took it up as a challenge to see how far I could push myself,” she says. A workout plan of dance,kickboxing and Pilates,under the watch of trainer Naina Talwalkar pulled it off. Designer Ashley Rebello who designed her Munni look with Arbaaz’s sister,Alvira,tells us: “Her body size has remained the same,even after her baby’s birth.”

Malaika,though,is aware of the competition. “Today’s girls are all chakachak. They come with all weapons blazing. One needs to be on one’s toes,reinvent and be chameleon-like,” she says. That calculation has gone into the selection of her songs,like the seductive Maahi ve in Kaante,a film in which she played a pole dancer to the testosterone maxima of Amitabh Bachchan,Sanjay Dutt,Kumar Gaurav,Mahesh Manjrekar,Suniel Shetty and Lucky Ali. “It was my teenage dream to learn pole dancing and here I was getting the opportunity to introduce it to Indian movies,” she says.

I meet Malaika in a popular Mumbai bistro. In a casual black tee and jeans,she is a picture of sexy chic,elegant but not in your face. Someone women regard as the inspirational Hot Mama (and after her stint as judge on reality shows like Nach Baliye and Zara Nach Ke Dikha,she seems to have bonded with the saas-bahu audience as well). She is a hands-on mother to Arhaan––she attends all his PTAs,fetches him from school every day,arranges his play dates and helps him with his homework. She claims to make “the best sushi and khao suey in town”,and tells me with pride that she might be shooting for a sexy number in the morning but on her way back home,she stops by at Bandra’s Pali Market to buy fresh fruits and fish.

It’s not serendipity alone that brought her to Bollywood. Dance has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. She was four when she started dance lessons,and could do the perfect pirouette long before she entered the teens. She has been trained in Russian ballet,jazz dancing and Bharatnatyam. “My mom always encouraged me to dance. She felt I had the poise and the flexibility,” she says. Born to a Punjabi father and Malayali Catholic mother,Malaika was a regular upper middleclass Bombay girl. At 17,she left college midway to become a model. She says she has no regrets. “I was in a situation where I had the chance to be independent and I took it. My mom had faith in me and I haven’t ever needed to look back,” she says. Modelling was not a joyride –– those were the days of Madhu Sapre and Mehr Jesia and at 5ft 4” Malaika was “too petite.” Ad campaigns,though,came her way,including the steamy MR Coffee advertisement (she met husband Arbaaz on that shoot). One of her most popular avatars was as an MTV VJ doling out love gyaan,long legs draped around a couch,on MTV Loveline.

She was 23 when she married Arbaaz,four months after Dil Se had released,and her career took a backseat. “I always felt it would be difficult to manage married life with showbiz.

Arbaaz was cool if I wanted to act but I know that we wouldn’t have had much of a marriage if I had become a full-fledged actress,” she says. Marriage into the Khan family,though,arguably,has kept her in the limelight for this long,and even helped her live down blink-and-miss roles in films such as Bichchoo,EMI: Liya Hai Toh Chukana Padega and Housefull.

She is often compared with the other Mrs Khan,father-in-law Salim Khan’s second wife,and the original dancing star,Helen. Is she this generation’s Helen? Farah is reluctant to pass her verdict on this one. “I don’t know if Malaika has the kind of repertoire as Helen,” she says,adding,“but keeping in mind that both of them are not leading ladies and yet are so successful with dance numbers,maybe they are similar in that respect,” she says.

Helen aunty is Helen aunty,” Malaika insists,though she graciously accepts the compliment. Has Helen ever commented on her songs? “She’s very supportive. She keeps telling me,‘Beta,you’re so good’,” adds Malaika. It’s been 12 years since she married into the Great Khan family. From patriarch Salim Khan to Arbaaz’s youngest sister Arpita,everyone leads their individual lives and yet they remain close to each other. “All of us have our own lives,we live separately,have our own set of friends but we love our family get togethers. It’s fun to be part of such a large family with so many kids and dogs,” she says. Over the years,she has established her own equation with everyone in the family. Her parents-in-law root for her,she’s buddies with Sohail and gets along great with sister-in law Alvira and Sohail’s wife,Seema. As for Salman,“I don’t have a relationship where I can backslap him and call him bro. He’s the eldest in the family and I give him that respect. Bhai is really chilled out and great with the kids,” she says.

Malaika and Arbaaz have been there for each other,and save one embarrassment––they claimed to have divorced as part of a publicity campaign for a skin cream––it has been a controversy-free ride. She was 17 when she started dating him and confesses to have “grown up with him.” “Arbaaz just lets me be,he lets me dream. He has never stopped me from doing anything. We stand by each other,” she says. Switch to the other side and the husband concurs that together they are a team. “For the longest time,she has been more successful. But I have never had the need to look behind my back. If she’s happy,I’m happy,” he says.

Now that her husband’s production banner is established,Malaika is keen to take on more responsibility. Immediate plans are to open a restaurant and write books: on fitness and household recipes,skin packs and kitchen home truths (she speaks with startling authority on zits).

One question remains,though. Doesn’t she want to be more than an “item” girl? “I might not be an actor but I get all the love,respect and recognition of a top actor. I have no complaints at all,” she says. And the next “item” number? “I’ll take my time. Let people wait for it,” she says.

The Malaika Mantra