2012 Telly bellies and old flamesKuch Toh.. is inspired by the classic Pakistani television play...

23 SCREEN CHANGESATURDAY, DEC 31, 2011 2011 2012

BLING IT ONMany a Hollywood diva hasbrought sheen to the red carpetwith a shimmering sheath but thisyear Katrina Kaif and KareenaKapoor blinged it up in India.“Katrina has been seenwearing shimmerynumbers at redcarpet events andother publicappearances,” saysPooja Sethi, afreelance stylistbased in Mumbai.For a shoot for amen's magazine thisyear Kaif wore abeautiful metallic dressdesigned by Rocky S,with no jewellery. In Mere Brother ki DulhanKaif sizzled in a whiteshimmer sari and lehengaduring a song sequence. Ata recent awards ceremony,the leading lady looked noless than a Greek goddess inan elegant nude shimmernumber with a plungingneckline and defined waist

THE MESSAGE ON YOUR CHEST Armani suits became ho-hum as tees withnaughty messages and faded jeanspushed their way into the celeb circle. Theboy-next-door look was most favoured by

chocolate hero Imran Khan. Hedid a Ted Mosby with

check shirts worn openover tees in Mere Brotherki Dulhan and even at filmscreenings. Soon-to-bemarried Ritiesh Deshmukh,too, tried his hand at the

look with casualshirts paired

with nerdglasses and spiky hair. Abhay Deolturned up atthe premiereof ZindagiNa MilegiDobara in apink V-neck

tee, fadedjeans, brown

blazer and afedora. Hats off!

HELLO YELLO’ | Thecolour was seen everywhere, fromfilm titles (That Girl in YellowBoots) to bags and from dressesto shoes. Ranveer Singhpranced about the sets ofBigg Boss 5 in a pair ofyellow shoes. Farhan Akhtar,Abhishek Bachchan, ImranKhan, Akshay Kumar andChunky Pandey toocouldn't resist the urge.Kiran Rao Khan wasspotted in a yellowjacket at Ficci Frames2011. Her love for thecolour extended to ahandbag as well.Sonam Kapoor wore aSabashe yellow andblack baby doll dressto the launch of alifestyle magazine’scover in June

VINTAGE YEAR | The quintessentialstyle diva Sonam Kapoor continued to enthralfashionistas with her tastefully put togetherensembles that fetched her magazine coversand tabloid spreads. Taking cue from Westernramps, Kapoor went vintage look the entireyear. She turned up in a classic Jean PaulGautier white gown with black geometricalpattern and a mesh overlay for the red carpet atCannes 2011. It reminded everyone of the dressworn by Audrey Hepburn in the scene whereEliza Dolittle visits Ascot in My Fair Lady. For aprivate dinner hosted by fashion honchoRoberto Cavalli, Kapoor made heads turn in ametallic gold gown by the same designer whichshe carried breezily with soft wavy curls, a silverclutch and bronze-hued make-up. At FarahKhan’s house-warming party last week, Kapoorlooked stunning in a simple graphic black andgrey Helmut Lang dress. The grey panellingaccentuated her curves and side swept bangsgave her a soft yet sensual look. “Sonam loveseverything vintage, from clothes to bags toshoes to accessories, even a vintage hair clipmakes her happy,” says Tanya Ghavri, who hasstyled Priyanka Chopra. Ghavri adds thatKangana Ranaut is another star who has a softspot for anything vintage

RIPPED, RETROAND RAVISHING

BELLY GOOD | Aishwarya Raishowed the way to be pregnant with asophistication seldom seen in showbiz. Inthe West, celebrities try brazen sexinesseven when they’re ready to pop. But Raitastefully camouflaged her bump withflared Anarkali suits, full sleeves andBanarasi saris. “She wore pastel colours andlight make-up so that the only highlight onher face was her healthy glow,” says Sethi

The Anna cap may have been one of the most popularaccessories on the streets this year, but Bollywood stuck to its fashion forward ways

RIPPED JEANS | Priyanka Choprasingle-handedly popularised the garmentby being clicked, time and again, atairports in a pair. She even showed up atan IPL match in distressed jeans and agunjee. Deepika Padukone, Gauri Khan,Salman Khan were also spotted in frayedchic this year

SPECS OF SUCCESS | The black-framed hipster glasses sported by Abhay Deolin Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara were a definitestyle trend in 2011. Even though the stylistasdismissed them as fashion faux pas, ourBollywood stars begged to differ. AmitabhBachchan, son Abhishek, Gulshan Grover andRiteish Deshmukh endorsed the style statementthrough the year

TAKE THE PLUNGEDo they ever really go out of fashion? Butthe décolletage reached newer depths thisyear with The Dirty Picture and No OneKilled Jessica. Vidya Balan, who reportedlywas padded up to achieve the required levelof buxomness as southie siren Silk in TheDirty Picture, didn't shy away from wearingdeep-neck blouses for promotional eventsas well. “The best thing about this trend isthat you don't need tobe a size zero tofollow it,” saysMegan Raowho writes thefashion blogJolie Asie

MAXI DRESSBollywood's leading ladiessashayed in glamorous maxidresses both on and offscreen. At the 10th weddinganniversary bash of AkshayKumar and Twinkle Khanna,Sonam Kapoor wore aprinted black and grey WinterKate maxi dress while thehostess looked smashing in ablue jersey Halston Heritagedress. Katrina Kaif wore thegarment with great style inthe fashion extravaganza thatwas Zindagi Na MilegiDobara. Arjun Bhasin, thecostume designer for the film,created beautiful bohemianensembles for Kaif byteaming up maxi dresses withdenim jackets, kolhapuris andplain studs. At a recent do atSalman Khan's residence, Kaifshowed up in a bold maxi dress with a sheer upperand a colourful printedlower. The maxi dress is athrowback to the ‘70s hippieera. It is a convenientwardrobe item that can work both as daywear and nightwear

AVIJIT GHOSHTIMES NEWS NETWORK

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it?

It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your

chest and it opens up your heart and it means

that someone can get inside you and mess you

up. You build up all these defenses, you build

up a whole suit of armour, so that nothing can

hurt you, then one stupid person, no different

from any other stupid person, wanders into

your stupid life...and then your life isn’t your

own anymore.”

From ‘The Sandman’ by Neil Gaiman

It is possible that Dr Ashutosh, the 40-plus

male protagonist of the television serial

Kuch Toh Log Kahenge, thinks of love

the same way as articulated with utter

irony above. Which is why, although he is

consumed by that vertiginous feeling, he

also tries to resist it. Dr Ashutosh

(Mohnish Behl) looks at love like a surgeon

would look at a festering sore — with

curiosity and with a certain degree of suspicion.

Who knows what fatal disease it could turn into?

And it doesn’t help that the object of his silent

and secret affection is Dr Nidhi (Kritika Kamra),

a 20-plus intern with flowing hair and forest-fire

eyes. Nidhi brims with life. Her smile carries the

smell of the finest winter flowers and she can

light up a room by just stepping into it. But then

he is twice her age. When he finally managed to

express his muffled feelings earlier this week,

everyone exhaled in relief.

In Bade Achhe Lagte Hain, the male protag-

onist Ram (Ram Kapoor) is a successful but

lonely industrialist who has grown too lazy to

get into a relationship. The female lead Priya

(Sakshi Tanwar) is sensible, sensitive and has a

mind of her own — in other words, she is

loaded with unmarketable attributes in the

marriage bazaar. He is rich, fat and on the

other side of 40. She is very middle-class and

moving towards middle age. Both have pasts

and are too set and settled in their respective

ways to get pro-active about changing it. Mar-

riage, as they see it, only means altering habits

and complicating one’s life. By a twist of

circumstance, they get married. And slowly,

like shit, love too happens. And that ‘crazy little

thing’ begins to root in its own way. For the

two, love becomes a form of finding compan-

ionship, a process of discovering comfort zones

to rest your shoulder and complexes on. The

relationship between Ram and Priya is all about

untying the knots in their lives and negotiating

a form of amiable co-existence. In Bade

Achhe…, love is still a work in progress.

Over the past few months, the two serials

have redefined the art of romance on small

screen. And by Indian entertainment television

standards, they are pretty radical. For starters,

they have rather unusual leading men. Kapoor

of Bade Achhe... would need two seats on a

plane. And Dr Ashutosh’s overwhelming consci-

entiousness and dedication is more designed to

win admiration, not young hearts. Certainly not

of a girl half his age. In times when most heroes

are 20-nothings and almost as pretty as the

heroine, these serials put forward an alternative

idea of the hero. It’s never too late to date is

what the stories say.

The serials have a leisurely pace — not

stretched like rubber bands as many popular

serials are — and the slowness suits the

rhythm and tempo of its players. The serials

take their time letting love happen, which is

perhaps a TRP risk at a time when relationship

statuses are often updated by the hour on social

networking sites. The love speak here is slow,

indirect and altogether irresistible.

Kuch Toh.. is inspired by the classic Pakistani

television play Dhoop Kinare and doesn’t figure

among the Top 10 entertainment serials. But

comments such as — I don’t watch TV serials but

Kuch Toh… is an exception — posted on audi-

ence websites indicate that the love story has cap-

tured enormous mindspace. And in the Dec 17

TAM rating, Bade Achche... was at 9th place.

The love stories have become a late evening

habit among millions, especially the not-so-

young. The soaps — both on Sony — mark a

return to the old-fashioned idea of romance.

Within their world of fantasy, there is an element

of believability. They evoke memories of some-

thing barely remembered and they leave you with

a sense of warmth and a desire to be wanted.

In the book quoted above, Gaiman also wrote:

“Love takes hostages...It eats you out and leaves

you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase

like ‘maybe we should be just friends’ turns into a

glass splinter working its way into your heart. It

hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the

mind. It’s a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-

rips-you-apart pain. I hate love”.

That’s true. Who doesn’t hate love? Why else

do we keep returning to it. �

Saas-bahus and theirkitchen politics made wayfor old-fashioned, andmature, romance ontelevision this year

Telly bellies and old flames

KKAHANI MEINTWIST: Unlikethe typical 20-nothing telly couples, Ram andPriya (left) aremiddle-aged andDr Ashutosh andDr Nidhi (right)have an 18-yearage gap