Bollywood's bikini mania!

Watching Kareena Kapoor emerge from the crystal-blue waters of Greece in Tashan I thought of all those leading ladies over the years who made a splash in an itsybitsy bikini, not necessarily yellow or polka-dotted.

But wait. We are jumping the gun. Before the bikini beckoned Bollywood babes there was the simple one-piece bathing costume.

A lot of actresses would baulk at the very thought of getting into a swimming suit. And even if they did wear stockings covering their entire exposed leg region. Now who on earth gets aqueous in stockings?!

Nargis did wear a bathing costume in Raj Kapoor’s Awara for the song Dum bhar jo udhar mooh phere.
Since then RK never stopped drenching the damsels in distress in a bath-roop. Ultra-conservative Vyjanthimala would have never dreamt of getting into a bathing costume(bc).

She did it happily enough for RK in Sangam where he played Krishna on a tree with a pied pipe instead of a flute singing Bol radha rol. Many decades later Rishi Kapoor did a film by that title with Juhi Chawla. Demure Juhi did slip into an elegant bikini in Yash Chopra’s Darr.

And that brings me to a very significant do-or-darr point about our lovely leading ladies in bathing costumes. Like Raj Kapoor I think Yashraj Films likes to give itself the stamp of the audacious dreamer by putting posh leading ladies into bathing costumes. Earlier Poonam Dhillon wore a one-piece in Yashraj’s Trishul. In the recent past they’ve gone from a one-piece to a two-piece just for Yash Uncle. So cute na? But that’s progress for you. Bipasha wouldn’t wear a bikini for any other banner. She did it for Yashraj in Dhoom 2. And now Kareena splashes out of the crystal-blue waters in a stunning shimmering gold-crusted bikini. She reminded me of Dimple Kapadia in Sagar emerging from the aqueous as Rishi gawked in sensuous stupefaction. Gosh, what is it with the Kapoors and the watery nymphs?

With Bipasha, wearing a bikini was never an issue. She slipped easily enough into it. But was made to keep quiet about it by the secretive banner. Pehno bolo mat. Wear with care for the stare. For Kareena it was tougher. She is at heart a very conservative girl. And if today we see her doing the pouty provocative pirouette, I remember Kareena before the release of her maiden movie.

A firebrand, brash and impulsive but extremely conservative about her dress code. In the first interview that she did she told me she wanted to be like Meena Kumari and Madhubala. In just six years Kareena has traversed that tantalising territory from Madhubala to Kate Moss without skipping a beat.

Face it guys. Tashan didn’t really need to put Kareena in a bikini. In fact that supreme level of sensuality is completely at odds with the character of the small-town-big-dream girl that Kareena plays. So what gives? Firstly of course it’s the Adi-factor, who loves the exclusive challenge of getting their posh leading ladies to act out of character. Secondly and more importantly Kareena wanted to prove a point more to herself than to her audience. The Kapoors are notoriously famous for their food-fixation, chubby cheeks and extra kilos. I’ve seen Kareena tucking into her tandooris and kebabs. I’ve seen how much she enjoyed her meat. Today she’s vegetarian and a complete yoga-gal. And now to Kareena goes the award for the most arresting bikini shot of a heroine ever.

The closest in terms of aesthetics was Saif's mom in the 1960s. At a time when all the heroines were tubby overweight and lopsided in their physique how did Sharmila Tagore manage to be so chiselled and perfect? Now that’s a mystery we’ll solve another day. But Sharmilaji in the murder-mystery Aamne Samne carried off the bikini as though it was invented for her. There’s a Kapoor connection here as well. Her leading man in the film was none other than Shashi Kapoor!

Is it Saif..er safe to presume wherever there’s a Kapoor there's bound to be a bathing beauty in the vicinity?