Shilpa to tackle stage, screens ... then a family life
Adam Plowright

PARIS—Not surprisingly for a woman as busy as Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, everything has to be planned minutely — even having a relationship and starting a family. The 32-year-old, who shot to fame outside of India when she became the centre of a racism row on “Celebrity Big Brother” in Britain this year, has crammed the last 12 months with new ventures.
She’s launched a perfume, filmed a yoga video and is now starring in a theatre production called “Miss Bollywood” which is showing in Berlin and will travel to London. “Right now, I have so much on my plate,” she said in an interview. “I’m up to up to my nose with all of this.”
Her hyperactivity and drive have already led to nearly 50 film appearances, but she admits that her personal life is far from complete, with starting a family her next big ambition. “Where is the time? I have no time at all. I’m very busy with this musical and after this I’m going to be busy with my movie,” she says.
“Of course I love children. I would love to have children of my own ... maybe the end of next year or something. Let’s see.” She has been romantically linked to Indian actor Akshay Kumar in the past, but since then she has reportedly been single and she implies she is yet to find the stable relationship she’s looking for.
“Before that (starting a family), I have to find the right man.” After the two-month run of Miss Bollywood, which finishes in London’s famous Royal Albert Hall on December 12, Shetty is to begin work on her next film, called “The Man.”
It is to be directed by actor Sunny Deol. For the moment, Shetty says she is enjoying her foray into the world of musicals and is thrilled by the experience of performing in front of a live audience.
“When you are working in cinema you don’t have direct access to people,” she says. “When you are on stage, you see exactly how much people like you and whether they like you. “As an actor, the biggest compliment you can have is when people stand up and give you a standing ovation.”
She appears stung by poor reviews of the show by the Indian press, however, which initially focused on technical problems experienced on the first night and her apparent irritation. “Obviously it is just malicious,” she says. “There was a technical glitch on the first night, I do admit.
“We lost our costume bags and there was a problem on the (music) console and we didn’t have a back-up of the CD. “Those were minor things. Minor glitches are just part and parcel of show business,” she says.
“They (the press) said I was upset ... there was no such thing. I wasn’t upset. I was extremely excited and nervous the first day, but that is normal.” Miss Bollywood is set against the backdrop of London in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics in the British capital.
It follows the story of Maya — performed by Shetty — a classically trained dancer and choreographer, recently arrived from India to set up a dance academy in a soon-to-be demolished East London building. “There is a point in the show when our dancers jump into the crowd and make people get up and dance,” she says.
“It’s been really amazing to see the German ladies wearing Indian attire.” In January this year, Shetty won “Celebrity Big Brother,” a television gameshow in which famous contestants are locked in a house and watched constantly with cameras.
Shetty was called a dog by a fellow contestant and her accent and cooking were also mocked, leading seething demonstrators in India to torch effigies amid claims the abuse was racially motivated.
The incident cemented her as one of India’s best-known celebrities in Britain and, owing to a diplomatic row, brought her international fame far beyond what her films had achieved.
Indian ministers vowed “appropriate action” and Britain’s prime minister and finance minister were forced to speak out.
Shetty also hit headlines in April when an Indian judge ordered her arrest over a kiss bestowed on her by Hollywood heartthrob Richard Gere at an AIDS awareness event.
The pair were accused of obscenity, but the legal case was later suspended by the Indian Supreme Court.