Amchi Ishaa

So, when Ishaa Koppikar showed a great deal of herself and some of her talent in the chartbuster Khallas number from Ram Gopal Varma8217;s underworld flick Company, most amchis sat up and did the only thing they could. Exclaim in shock, hands over a wide-open mouth, and whisper animatedly of how an amchi girl could wear something like a swimsuit or a plain shirt with nothing on for the whole world to see. It came close to blasphemy. Amchis as in Saraswats, distinct from Maharashtrians, we who speak Konkani at home but have no homestate to call our own generally emphasise brains, not brawn, even if it comes in a fab figure or with a delightfully and delicately contoured face like Ishaa8217;s.

There she sits, almost waifish, showing some midriff and lots of attitude, wondering why should anyone want to talk to an one-song starlet for the umpteenth time. Like it or not, despite her appearances in Fiza and Pyar Ishq Mohabbat, after half-a-dozen films down South in three different languages, that came on the heels of half-a-dozen commercials for top-end cosmetics, and a Miss India Top Ten tag behind her, Ishaa is a mini celeb because she is the Khallas girl. Even she accepts it. Smart amchi?

She is getting into the Bollywood mode, she isn8217;t quite there yet. So, she is still comfortable with her modest Mahim third-floor-without-elevator address, an occasional taxi and her friends from the decent, educated, home-by-10-pm housing societies in the quiet, leafy but definitely non-glamourous street. But she has a personal trainer, someone straight from the modern dance guru Shiamak Davar dropping in three-four times a week, helping her tone her body and rehearse some jhatkas for the forthcoming film Kaante in the living room, dressed minimally. Her Annamma, Konkani for grandmother, walks in and out. She is part of Ishaa8217;s canvas.

8216;8216;I8217;m doing a part opposite Sanjay Dutt,8217;8217; Ishaa lets the last two words drop with meaning. Then, she talks of half-a-dozen other films she has on her hands now. Ambition? Well, for a large number of amchis, ambition is to have a nice little house and family with a retirement package. To work with Sanjay Dutt would hardly be in that picture. Most amchis would react to Dutt as something that came from a lesser planet than their own. Ram Gopal Varma would just pass muster. Ishaa worships him. 8216;8216;Anything for him,8217;8217; she gushes, saying she has kept this August-September free because Varma has asked her to. 8216;8216;He must be having something in mind for me, at the moment I don8217;t know what the film is, what the role is. I trust him completely.8217;8217;

She was somewhat similarly bowled over when he called her to do the Khallas song. The shoot was in Mumbai, so her mother didn8217;t accompany her. The first time that the bits and pieces of the song played on television, was the first time that her family saw it. Her mother, otherwise comfortable with Ishaa8217;s choices in life, was a bit flustered at the bits and pieces Ishaa was wearing. 8216;8216;Amma8217;s reaction was 8216;Oh, my God8217; but then she began to appreciate it,8217;8217; says Ishaa. Many Koppikars along the family line were not so approving but she says, 8216;8216;I don8217;t care. They will come around when I get some Best Actress award.8217;8217;

Her father practises medicine, he had wanted Ishaa to become a doctor too. 8216;8216;But she came up and said that she wanted to do all this,8217;8217; he shrugs. Her mother used to be a banker but when Ishaa8217;s glam career grew, she opted out to be with her. 8216;8216;Someone in my office told me to get Ishaa8217;s portfolio done by Gautam Rajadhyaksha. I did and he said right there that her face was ideal for cosmetic ads,8217;8217; says Amma, 8216;8216;then one thing led to another.8217;8217; At home, it8217;s still Amma and Annu for Ishaa. There8217;s much that8217;s Saraswat in her, yet there8217;s much that8217;s beyond a Saraswat identity. She loves the lights, she thrives on the glam, she hopes for big things.

And, yes, she does get asked about the second name. It sounds exotic. She tells people some of the history of the originally dislocated people who had to flee from Kashmir to the western coast. There have been other well-known Koppikars 8211; a chief forest officer, a vice-admiral, a principal of Mumbai8217;s famous ayurvedic college and hospital 8211; but none in the world of glamour and two-string outfits. Ishaa intends to set that right. Not yet 25, her philosophy is clear. 8216;8216;Nothing sells like sex. I mean what8217;s wrong with it? Take any product, it needs a woman to sell it.8217;8217;

The oomph is in her attitude, not just her well-toned figure. She has a huge touch of the bindaas, she can look vulnerable and sexy at the same time, she can imagine a camera and turn on that oomph, slowly, degree by small degree, letting her inhibitions drop, creating that pout, that come-hither look, allowing her body to talk. It comes naturally to her. 8216;8216;Oomph is not something that I was comfortable with but it grows on you, I am getting comfortable with it now,8217;8217; she says. Oomph is serious business now that she aspires her niche in Bollywood. Her parent will have to get used to it, though, and learn to deal with the questions that come from other Koppikars or other Saraswats.

And, upkari? It8217;s a typical delicacy of fresh vegetables and oodles of coconut, even raw cashewnuts and coconut, which has now become an exotic item on the menu of a handful of restaurants in Mumbai. Ishaa had nothing to do with it.

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