Shilpa Shetty the next Bond girl!

Monday, July 30, 2007
Post 'Big Brother', there has been really no looking back for Shilpa Shetty. The latest is that the flavour of this season is now leading opinion polls as the first choice for the Bond girl's role opposite Daniel Craig in a Bond series movie.

It all started after 'The People' website in the UK raised the question about whether Shilpa would agree to play the Bond girl's role, right after she won 'Big Brother'. Since then there have been opinion polls across the internet and vast discussions on whether Shlpa qualifies for the ultimate glam role or not. Interestingly thousands of people have actually voted for the dusky beauty and she has topped almost seven of these polls. Surprisingly Halle Berry who was Bond girl in the 2003's Die another day and who replayed the famous 'Ursula Andress bikini shot from Dr. No' has come second to the Indian diva.

However there is a downside as well. There are also sections of people taking part in these discussions who have been saying that things aren't all that rosy and this could also end up as yet another big Bollywood rumour. After the Aishwarya Rai and Gulshan Grover rumours, now it's turn for rumours about the latest international celeb from India. Some wrote that she doesn't quite 'have the Bond girl look' especially after the standard of the series went up after 'Casino Royale' and another even went to the extent of writing, "She is very pretty, but there is something really strange about her. Perhaps it's the fake nose. It almost works but..."

Shilpa's publicist and spokesperson Dale Bhagawagar chooses to analyse, "Every celeb has a fan base. Being loved by some and hated by others is a part and parcel of every actor's life. Everyone is entitled to his/her individual opinion."

There is yet another hitch which could be 'the Bollywood connection'. The fact remains that there has not been any actor from India who has made it as big as a Mexican Salma Hayek, a Spanish Penelope Cruz or an Italian Monica Belluci. The general perception by now is that in Hollywood the whites and the blacks have their space, but things are not very favourable when it comes to brown skin and these actors always end up getting stereotyped. There were high hopes about the ethereally beautiful Aishwarya Rai being the true blue cross over star but that too hasn't exactly happened till now.

"I only have one thing to say about this. When Shilpa went for 'Big Brother', nobody expected her to win. But she managed to prove everyone wrong. If that ,which seemed impossible has happened, why can't this rule be broken as well? As of now, Shilpa has many offers from the UK as well as the US. She hasn't consented to any except for the role of Sita in Uru Patels's 'Hanuman' which has two Hollywood stars playing the roles of Ram and Hanuman," says Bhagwagar.

So if luck continues to favour the dusky beauty so, a day might come when there is actually an Indian Bond girl creating history of the unique kind.