If anyone in Bollywood needs a big brother to watch over her, one of my first guesses would be item-number girl extraordinaire, Shilpa Shetty. And lucky for her (and for us too), Big Brother will be watching her, and by Big Brother, I am referring to the UK television show’s ongoing celebrity version (thanks Jai).
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p>The BBC reports yesterday that Ms. Shetty (31) was the sixth of eleven stars to enter the Big Brother house, wearing a pink sari. Because Shetty, who has appeared in over 30 Bollywood films, is an unmarried Indian female, attractive, and over the age of 30, it appears that they are going to focus on her love-life (you know, being single, desi, and over 30, the horror, the horror). 
The film icon will reportedly have a dinner date with another housemate, in which she will be encouraged to flirt and reports say Ms Shetty – often the subject of marriage speculation – will dine at a later stage in the show with the housemate she finds the most attractive. Inevitably, Indian coverage of the show will focus on romance in Shilpa Shetty’s life.”But it isn’t likely that any shaadi will result from the show. When responding to a love-life related query from one newspaper in the run-up to the show, Shetty kept it fashionably coy saying, “I shall marry but after three years. There is no-one in my life as of today. And, I am very happy living single, at present.” (link)
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p>Correspondents, like always, are saying that Shetty’s appearance on Big Brother is bound to be hugely controversial in India where many would question its standards of morality. Maybe so, but these correspondents must then have missed some of her more risque–scantily clad-and-in-the-rain dance numbers that Shilpa has participated. Morality, Shmorality, it is Big Brother, and by the look of things already, this season sounds like it is going to be interesting. I know I will be watching, and with Shilpa on, I bet many of the two million plus British Asians will be too. You can see videos of the show here, Shilpa’s page here, and Shilpa big brother news here.
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Whoa! Did you see who was going to be sharing the house with Shilpa? Jermaine Jackson and Templeton “Faceman” Peck! Can you imagine the Faceman having a romantic dinner with Ms. Shetty, too funny.
Since there is supposedly a camera on her 24/7 (a 24 hour live feed on the website!), I wonder if they’ll show her threading or waxing. Now that’s a show that I would watch 😉
Wow! Eleven people in pink saris!? OK, I’ll stop being a jerk.
I know, right?
the bollywood morality thing is like hollywood during the ‘golden age’ right? all show? i mean, these people are are hitting it left & right, right? i don’t know, i’m asking.
What a fool? Do watch her interview here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz5MStABhRY.
” I am synonymous with glamour “. That’s what others should say about you, Ms Shetty.
” I am special and I am scared of people not recognizing me”
” I travel with an entourage “
” They call me India’s Angelina Jolie “
and the killer:
” Even if I were a maid servant ……… ” Just ‘ maid ‘ wouldn’t have been fine. Shoot your own culture in the foot. She is telling us ( very patronizingly ) who is at top and who is in the pits in Indian society.
Of course she has never heard of self-deprecation. Does she sound like a 31 year old to anyone? My prediction is she’ll be a disaster on British TV just as Aishwarya was on American TV. Sad. Most South Asians would still love her though.
love this bit:
She’s a black belt karate champ and is considered to have the best body in Bollywood. She’s a bit worried about the lack of gym facilities in the House.
best body? hm. i am thinking that is open to huge debate. lack of gym facilities?
don’t even get me started on the entire miss universe fiasco with madhu sapre.
and i don’t know if she will get down and dirty, as per her quote on the big brother ‘i need to revive my career sans viverin’ says: She says… “I have zero expectations. The only thing I really hope to keep is my self-respect and my dignity.”
self-respect, dignity? that is open for debate as well.
the bollywood morality thing is like hollywood during the ‘golden age’ right? all show? i mean, these people are are hitting it left & right, right? i don’t know, i’m asking.
Yes. And a lot of them had to hit it to get in to Bollywood in the first place.
pickle… if you need to experiment vith vax … i’d be happy to offer my torso for your ministrations. it’s the least i can do for the endless joy you bring.
They call me Hairry Pitt.
Bollywood is going to equal to hollywood
BBC radio had a story on this 2 or 3 days back and they mentioned the possible issue for her in India due to the rooms being shared accomodation, with men and women rooming together. (gasp)
Status update from Blighty:
Well, it’s the whole tall svelte leggy thing. And apparently she does pursue a particularly gruelling fitness regimen.
While exploring the new BB house, she found out to her delight that it includes various keep-fit equipment and was actually the first person to stumble across it, immediately proclaiming her delight. Some other housemates proceeded to check it out and were pleased too.
Well, Shilpa hasn’t made a big deal out of it. She did mention that she may end up sleeping on the floor, desi-style, because she has cervical spondylosis and she’s finding her bed to be too soft.
Not necessarily. Well, not yet, anyway. The general consensus of the British public is that she’s a beautiful woman and quite elegant & poised, and seems to come across as a very nice person. The BB cameras in particular seem to be regularly zooming in with lingering closeups of her face even if she’s just quietly listening to other housemates chatting to each other off-camera. And apparently, one of the other housemates who she has bonded with — a recent Miss Great Britain who was stripped of her title for posing in Playboy — is quite jealous of Shilpa because of her looks. No genuine bitchiness towards her so far, though; the rest of the housemates have been extremely nice towards her.
They had a reshuffle in the house yesterday where 8 housemates voluntarily transferred into an adjoining, and significantly dodgier, “servants’ quarters”, with the intention that the 3 remaining celebrities would be treated like royalty by them. It appears that they all selected the lucky 3 on the basis of them having the highest status in the real world — Shilpa was one of them, along with Jermaine Jackson and a famous director called Ken Russell. So that’s an interesting indication of how they view her.
Big Brother has an absolutely huge viewing audience in Britain, so it’s a reflection of how established and high-profile South Asians are in this country for someone like Shilpa to end up being on the show — and, indeed, for the term “Bollywood” to be met with recognition rather than confusion, although of course Shilpa herself wasn’t really familiar to people outside the British desi population.
Until now, of course. Miss Shetty is suddenly very famous indeed in Ingerlaanda 😉
Hairry Pitt, thanks for the offer of your torso. But if you really want to know the way to my heart, it would be for you to let me pluck your ingrown hairs. I find something very relaxing and satisfying about plucking them.
Back on topic:
Sounds a bit too much like India.
Shilpa’s obviously very uncomfortable indeed about the whole arrangement and has been visibly upset several times because of it.
By the way, along with the other handful of people left in the “luxury accomodation”, she’s up for eviction this Wednesday unless a sufficient number of the public vote to keep her in. The celebrity with the fewest votes will be kicked out.
So if you feel like supporting our desi sister, you can cast your vote by phoning 09011 32 33 14, or by sending an SMS with the word “Shilpa” to 84466 (the latter may need an international dialling code as the prefix if you’re SMSing from outside the UK, I’m not sure. Same for the phone number).
Shilpa is cute! Is the reason why she’s single and 31, because she’s picky, get hit on by too many short guys or what?
No, it’s because she hasn’t met me yet 😉
Okay folks; I am about to start a new job and I won’t be allowed to access the internet for non-work purposes, so this will be my last post during the weekdays. I will, however, do my best to visit SM during the weekends, especially if Anna has another one of her excellent 55Friday threads.
Thank you all very much for your daily company over the past 16 months or so; the discussions have been enlightening, thought-provoking, sometimes very funny, occasionally infuriating, but always stimulating. I hope I’ve been a positive contribution to the blog, and my apologies if at any point I’ve inadvertantly offended anyone. In any case, I’ve greatly enjoyed the debates with everyone here and hopefully I’ve made some online friends too.
As mentioned, hopefully I’ll be able to drop by during the weekends, but in the meantime I just thought I should give some advance warning of my impending disappearance so that people don’t think I’ve suddenly walked out of SM in protest at something, or (more likely) the Mutineers have secretly done another one of their transatlantic hit-jobs 🙂
I’m not sure how many of our desi cousins across the Atlantic are still following this, but there have been some major fireworks in the British Celebrity Big Brother house recently involving Shilpa Shetty. One of the recent evictees — who also happens to be a journalist — has just written an article in her newspaper about her experiences, and it includes quite a lot about Shilpa. (I’ve also posted the link on the News tab).
Ms Shetty has bonded very well with Jermaine Jackson and Dirk Benedict — the latter of whom has got a major crush on her, and he doesn’t even hide it — but she’s had to handle a huge amount of blatant bullying from some of the English female housemates, a great deal of which has obviously been driven by racism (including mimicking her accent behind her back in an exaggerated Apu/The Simpsons way). The boyfriend of one of the so-called “celebrity” women — who is also currently in the house — is also alleged to have called her a “paki” when his girlfriend’s mother was evicted last week; it was captured on film although the word itself was bleeped out during the later transmission. Other incidents include the now-evicted mother repeatedly mispronouncing Shilpa’s name (and claiming she couldn’t pronounce it), and subsequently repeatedly referring to her as “the Indian” in a disparaging tone whenever she discussed Shilpa with the other housemates.
I recommend you check out the show’s discussion forums for more details; it’s all generated quite a lot of controversy and in some cases calls for the programme makers to intervene.
Heard about this Jai that there has been quite a bit of backlash from the desi community about her getting racist attitude in the house. Saw this story today.
Jai, never saw your post above until now, but congrats on the new job (I was wondering why you’d been so quiet lately, and I did think maybe you walked out in protest!) Good luck, hopefully you’ll still comment from time to time.
JOAT & Amitabh,
Thanks for your responses — and thanks Amitabh for the congrats too. As you can see, my new job’s keeping me very busy during most of the week 😉
Anyway, earlier today I finally had a chance to write a post on SM about my own thoughts on the conflagration currently surrounding “apni Shilpa”, which you can read here on Cicatrix’s thread if you’re interested. Take a look when you have some spare time; I obviously had a lot to say, but it covers many of the issues concerned from a British (and British Indian) perspective.
Cheers again, and I hope you two are doing okay.
Great to know you’re doing well dude. By the way, I forgot to say thanks for telling me about this site in the first place!