To Catch a Star: Bipasha Basu

She’s one of Bollywoood’s favourite sirens. She’s got a body that others can only envy. Every time she’s on screen she oozes sex appeal. Increasingly, she is going for parts that prove there’s more to her than her hourglass figure. CNN-IBN Entertainment Editor Rajeev Masand chats with the gorgeous Bipasha Basu.

Rajeev Masand: Is it hard to look the way you look?

Bipasha Basu: For that, I would firstly thank my parents. It is like an acceptance speech that I am giving right now. So it’s the genes and of course, you need to work out. More so, it is a healthy lifestyle that I lead and I’m quite vice-free. I sleep on time, I eat good food.

Rajeev Masand: So no indulgences?

Bipasha Basu: No, not really.

Rajeev Masand: So nothing fattening? No ice-cream?

Bipasha Basu: No, I have a major sweet tooth. I don’t eat it everyday. I do have those days when I completely let go and I do everything.

Rajeev Masand: The problem that sex symbols usually have is with being taken seriously. Was there a time when you felt that people just would not go beyond the body?

Bipasha Basu: I think it was the total package people talked about. The body has become important only in the last two years in the sense that you have to be fit and toned. Sometimes the way you look could be a problem especially in a profession like this because people think you can’t look like the-girl-next-door. So a lot of people would say ‘we would like to have this girl-next-door but she’s not the regular girl-next-door’.

Rajeev Masand: So did you ever feel objectified or feel limited?

Bipasha Basu: No, I always worked on the kind of work I was getting and I tried my best not to limit myself otherwise I would have been very unhappy. Yes, a section of people would always perceive me as a sex symbol but that’s not such a bad thing. I realise that ultimately I’m getting to do what I want to do and I get a lot of compliments for the way I look. And in today’s time, even a girl-next-door wants to be sexy.

Rajeev Masand: While men find sexiness very attractive, did you ever feel that men were intimidated by someone who’s very confident and good-looking and sexy?

Bipasha Basu: Absolutely. I think it helps me in a way. When you have that kind of a personality, not everyone will come up and bother you. So it’s like you are protecting yourself without actually doing anything. So it’s a barrier which will make men think, ‘Should I talk to her, should I approach her?’

But the truth of life is that it’s not what you look like it is the person you are. I am completely opposite of what I look like. I’m very relaxed, jovial, and friendly, I get along well with people and I’m the kind of person who likes to live. So this whole image that I have is great for my work. Sometimes it does help. But I am not that completely.

Rajeev Masand: What are the movies in your opinion that made people sit up and take notice and convinced them that ‘she’s not just a great body’?

Bipasha Basu: I don’t know about that. I don’t think about it. I feel with each role that I have done, I have justified my character. Sometimes I do make mistakes and do bad films. But if I’m the one making the decisions, I’m allowed to go wrong sometimes. But I enjoy everything. I think the most difficult kind of role I did was in No Entry where I had to do this song-and-dance number where I had to be this kind of a person.

It was something like my character Monali in Dhoom 2, which was basically playing a dumb girl. So it’s very difficult to convince a house when you are an intelligent person, to suddenly play dumb. It’s the most difficult thing that I have done.