Bollywood stars leaving footprints everywhere

IN A WORLD of vogue-conscious beauties, our Indian dolly birds, actresses, models and socialites of the Asian sub-continent are leaving footprints everywhere with their overwhelming beauty, mellifluous vernacular accent, their sexy and sassy swagger and their intelligent and outgoing personalities.

The latest to join this prestigious flock is India’s Harnaaz Sandhu who won the Miss Universe crown in Israel recently. Two previous winners of the title were Lara Dutta and Sushmita Sen.

There is little to differentiate between the Miss Universe and Miss World beauty pageants, but both are glittering and glamorous events, televised to millions across the world, showcasing the most beautiful women strutting their stuff and representing their respective countries.

India’s Miss World winners include the first in 1966 by Reita Faria, followed by Aishwarya Rai in 1994 and Diana Hayden in 1997. Yukta Mockhey got crowned in 1999 and Priyanka Chopra made it a double in 2000.

It took 17 years to reclaim the beauty stakes when Manisha Chhillar won it again in 2017. But what is it that brings about this colossal beauty – one of peaches and cream or subtle salmon pink complexion – that is so intoxicating and compelling? Is it genetic or a case of lucky chromosomes or a case of strategic grooming from an early age and nurturing that includes drama and arts education at school and university level, special diets, specialised calisthenics and keeping away from the relentless Indian sun?

Indubitably, for some time now, Bollywood has given us screen goddesses in the ilk of Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra and Vidya Balan. Add to that heady mix the dulcet voices of Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta and we have a sensory overload with a sultry lilt that culminates in a daring undertone of eroticism.

Daring is an understatement, for recent Bollywood has got saucier and steamier as Western actors and prospective suitors make a bee-line to be part of this revolution. In 2012, sex siren Poonam Pandey in a bout of eye-popping daring bared it all – stark naked – a promise she kept if Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders won the cricket IPL.

Bats and balls aside, at the turn of the century Indian beauties like Rakhi Sawant, Veena Malik, Bipasha Basu, Sunny Leone and Rozlyn Khan had tongues clucking and salivating on both sides of the sensual and sexual palate.

Endowed with a sense of pulchritude beyond human comprehension, the bearers of these voluptuous gifts and deliberate deshabille are so scintillating that it is enough to melt the ear wax of the ordinary man.

KEVIN GOVENDER

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