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This is an archive article published on July 13, 2003

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I Am hungry. Get me some boiled eggs from my car,’’ Illa Arun asks the studio boy, as we sit to chat at the trendy Trio studio in ...

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I Am hungry. Get me some boiled eggs from my car,’’ Illa Arun asks the studio boy, as we sit to chat at the trendy Trio studio in suburban Mumbai.

Variously called the rani of raunch and the bindaas ballerina(Arun sent moralists into a tizzy with Choli ke peechhe kya hai) and the woman who sang songs about nigodi, bicchuda and banjaran, Arun is giving herself a major makeover. ‘‘After Choli… they labelled me raunch queen. I am getting out of that image now,’’ she says. She couldn’t have found a better way to do that than by rendering Kashmir’s legendary poets like Mehjoor and Habba Khatun. As part of a project Tere Geet Mere Sur for a Kashmiri channel, Arun will sing two songs in an album of five. ‘‘I have yet to come across a poet who understands women better than Mehjoor. I’m bowled over by the evocative description of his beloved.’’

Sample this: Roz roz bozu mayani zar madno/dadi chayani chhas ha bemar madno (My beloved! please stop and listen to me/I have been ill ever since I fell in love with you).

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And then, after a hiatus of three years (her last release was Haule Haule), Arun is also cutting a new Hindi album. ‘‘Unlike certain pop singers, I don’t cut an album every six months. I ensure a long enough gap between my albums. I want my listeners to await my next creation,’’ she says. The ten tracks she has worked on are ‘‘earthy, vibrant, full of emotions.’’ With her typical, husky voice, Arun put Rajasthani folk songs on the world map. And recognition came in the form of Korean pop singer Shane, who recently made a documentary on folk singers of the world. Arun featured in it. ‘‘It’s a great honour to represent your country,’’ she says.

But then she has courted controversy too. And we are not talking about Choli… alone. Her album Vote for Ghaghra had a company in Bhilwara slamming a case on her. ‘‘The album sold six lakh copies. Those who filed the case misunderstood its message. It was about a woman’s defiance against male domination.’’

But perhaps, the most exciting thing to have happened to Arun lately was shooting for Shyam Benegal’s film on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in Uzbekistan. ‘‘I play Uttam Chand’s wife opposite Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Working with Shyambabu is like getting a guided tour of history. One learns so much from him,’’ says Arun, who was also in Benegal’s Sooraj Ka Satwan Ghoda.

But if her fingers are in many different pies, what about theatre? After all, this National School of Drama alumni cannot give up ‘‘my first love’’. Her theatre group Surnai is staging a new play called Majra Kya Hai which will also feature daughter and B4U VJ Ishita.

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Apart from stage shows, she’s directing Saloni, a film by the Uttar Pradesh government called Film Bandhu, and is also working on an as yet untitled script.

As we leave, Arun orders more boiled eggs and lemon tea. With her tight schedule, she’ll need plenty of those.

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