Anushka Sharma: Read my lips

Bollywood can be a cruel, lonely galaxy for actors. The industry’s obsession with youth and beauty can give rise to a lot of insecurity. It’s especially tough for the leading ladies who have to constantly fight the proverbial shelf life and stay relevant in the wake of market demands of a “naya chehra.”

This is no disclosure but almost everyone goes in for nips and tucks. Just glance at a slideshow of all actors and you are bound to get a ‘before and after’ picture. Everybody looks different.  Sometimes they attribute it to make-up, sometimes to stress or medication. Rarely do they admit. Not that I’m passing any judgement — since it’s their body, their decision — but it can be a bit baffling when you meet an actor who has done something to his/her face but they appear completely unruffled.

As a journalist, I still haven’t found the best way to navigate this situation. It’s like nobody wants to confront the elephant in the room. Sometimes you can even see the surgical scars on their face but when you ask them what happened, they say “Oh! I’ve been working so hard… I haven’t slept well..” Most of the time, “it’s an allergy.” Once or twice, I mustered my courage and asked point blank how come your face looks so different? The best answer I got was from an actress who said, “I look nice, no? I’m following such a crazy diet. I’ll give you the number of my dietician. She’s really good.”

Of course, I wanted to retort, she must be a Superheroine of a dietician—if she can make your eyes look wide and give you bee-stung lips!! Sometimes you ask them politely, with full respect, if they have ever considered plastic surgery and they go into a Miss India speech mode of “God has been kind… When you feel beautiful from within, you don’t need to go under the knife.” Yada yada. But I can still see your scars, I want to shout.

Botched surgery or no, give me honesty any day. If I like you as an actor, I can overlook your upper lip. Just save the lip service. For that reason, full marks to Rakhi Sawant who famously declared on Karan’s show, “Jo bhagwaan nahi deta hai woh doctor de deta hai”. Doctor and not a dietician. Please note.

harneet.singh@expressindia.com