Happy Birthday Shilpa Shetty Kundra: Do you know Baazigar is not her debut?, details inside
Born on June 8, 1975, the svelte Shilpa Shetty Kundra turns 47 today. I am one film journalist who can swear that I had met the tall beautiful girl long before she became a big star, long long before her debut film Baazigar was released. For those who are uninitiated, Baazigar was not Shilpa’s debut film technically speaking but Gaata Rahe Mera Dil with which she was supposed to be introduced along with Ronit Roy as well as Rohit Roy way back in 1992.
While I wish my dear friend Shilpa a happy birthday today, I remember with fondness the first time that I was introduced to Shilpa Shetty by director Dilip Naik, who had earlier made his debut with Yash Raj Films Nakhuda which starred Swaroop Sampat in the main lead. The film was supposed to be the launch pad for Shilpa Shetty, but dropped after the initial schedule, so Baazigar became her debut release. Similarly for Rohit Roy, Jazbaat became his debut release as Gaata Rahe Mera Dil went unreleased.
While I wish my dear friend Shilpa a happy birthday today, I remember with fondness the first time that I was introduced to Shilpa Shetty by director Dilip Naik, who had earlier made his debut with Yash Raj Films Nakhuda which starred Swaroop Sampat in the main lead. The film was supposed to be the launch pad for Shilpa Shetty, but dropped after the initial schedule, so Baazigar became her debut release. Similarly for Rohit Roy, Jazbaat became his debut release as Gaata Rahe Mera Dil went unreleased.
I still remember the venue where I was introduced to Shilpa way back in 1992- Hotel Orchid near the domestic airport. Shilpa had come to the hotel by 7 pm with her father late Surendra Shetty and mother Sunanda Shetty and of course her sister Shamita Shetty as Dilip (I wonder where on earth Dilip has disappeared since then) wanted her to meet the writer of the film so that he can write the story keeping her persona in mind. The meeting was a hit as Shilpa was unanimously zeroed in for the role of the leading lady in Gaata Rahe Mera Dil
Shilpa was such an extrovert that we hit it off at the very first meeting itself. Not only Shilpa, but I could also easily click instantly with also her parents as well as kid sister Shamita Shetty and all of us, including Dilip Naik decided to celebrate the occasion with drinks as well as dinner and Surendra offered to foot the bill at the restaurant in Orchid Hotel. The film was launched with a grand mahurat at Natraj Studios in Andheri.
After the first meeting, I used to visit Shilpa at her house in Chembur whenever I used to go to my in-law's house which was also in Chembur. In fact, Shilpa even became like a family member and I used to take my wife to their house after that for drinks and dinner. Yes. Surendra, who is no more amidst us, belonged to an industrial family on his own merit and was fond of hosting dinner with drinks
Shilpa and I gelled well with each other though we belong to different age groups and she was a Mangalorean while I am a Tamilian. In the 90’s there were a handful of freelance film journalists and I was one of them and I used to regularly write about the lissome lass in various publications. One day Shilpa rang me up on my landline and requested me to visit her for the shoot of Gaata Rahe Mera Dil at Matunga where she was shooting with senior actor Suhas Joshi for a crucial scene and I obliged her though Matunga was very out of the way place for me as I was then staying in the far flung Charkop in Kandivali .
Again, I obliged Shilpa when she asked me to accompany her to photographer Jayesh Sheth’s studio for her photo session.
Our friendship was sealed when my friend and producer Ratan Jain invited me to cover the shooting of his ambitious film Main Khiladi Tu Anari with Akshay Kumar and Shilpa Shetty in the main leads. Once when director Abbas of Abbas Mustan was celebrating his birthday in Mauritius by the pool side, Akshay Kumar played a deadly prank and pushed me inside the pool when I was holding a glass of scotch and talking to him and Ajay Devgn, it was Shilpa who cried and howled as I had told her just a few minutes ago that I did not know swimming at all and Ajay and Akshay both had jumped into the pool to save me from drowning
By the time we returned from the shooting, things had changed in a big way. Not only was the film Gaata Rahe Mera Dil shelved for want of buyers as it consisted of three newcomers- Shilpa Shetty, Ronit Roy and Rohit Roy, but also the director Dilip Naik had fallen out of favor with his mentor Yash Chopra after Nakhuda flopped like nobody’s business. However, Shilpa’s luck backed her and she was signed by Ratan Jain to play the lead in his film Baazigar with Shah Rukh Khan who also was a newcomer. From then onwards, Shilpa has not at all looked back and has marched ahead as far as her career is concerned
Shilpa is one of the A list actors who has upgraded herself and also reinvented from time to time as far as looking fit as a fiddle is concerned, with both a yoga regime and fitness quotient. Though she greets me as fondly as she used to in the struggling days, I miss besides my friend Surendra Shetty, who had acted in Yaadon Ki Baraat, visits to her bungalow like I used to when she was staying in Chembur