Figuratively Shilpa!

“I WAS barely 17 years old when I entered the industry. And that was an OTT (Over The Top) epoch, where we believed that the more make-up you put the better you look,” says Shilpa Shetty, who now wants to bare it a bit more.

“Now I believe in the minimalist approach. The audience wants more real stuff,” she says.

Shilpa was in town for an event at a beauty and health centre on Wednesday.

There is a welcome change in Bollywood now. “People are experimenting with cinema and are recreating stuff. It’s like old wine in a new bottle and the examples are Umrao Jaan, Don and Sholay. Also now the audiences cannot be fooled. They want good quality movies.”

Shilpa supports causes like AIDS and PETA. “I love animals. My parents have always taught my sister and me to love animals and respect them. And that is one of the reasons that I am close to animals.”

And her heart definitely reaches out to AIDS patients, which is quite evident in the movie Phir Milenge, where she plays the role of an HIV positive. Talking about the movie and its director she narrates, “Revathi is a brilliant director as well as a brilliant actor. She does not dictate the role. She leaves it on the actor to perform it on her own and most of the times it comes out spectacularly.

Working with her made my perception about cinema change and I had to undo whatever I had learnt in all these years. She has passed on all that she had learnt in all these years to me.”

Shilpa Shetty is quite attached to UP. And the credit goes to the song Dil walon ke dil ka karar lootnein, mein aayi hoon UP Bihar lootnein. She says, “This song was such a huge hit. It makes me feel close to UP.”

Shilpa attributes everything to the supreme force above. She says, “God is above everything and everybody else. He decided everything in advance for us.

I am quite religious and I don’t joke about God and religion.” She will soon be seen in Aapne, starring Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby Deol and Katrina Kaif.