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 Renowned
for her ultra-feminine looks, Amrita confesses she was once quite the
opposite. "I was a tomboy from hell… always with short hair. When people
used to say, ‘You have really nice daughters’ to my mother, I never really
felt that way. I always felt Malaika was the pretty one and the head girl
in school. She was a trendsetter without even trying. I never used to
care. I used to fall and have huge cuts on my knees and I'd fall asleep
without washing my face and wear crazy clothes. I started getting more
aware after joining the industry."
The nocturnal 29 year-old now loves experimenting with various natural
beauty concoctions in the wee hours of the night with ingredients like
almonds, bananas and her all time favourite, beet root. A tip she swears
by is staining her cheeks and lips with it slightly for a long-lasting
tint.
Sporting a hot pink tank top and black figure-hugging track suit bottoms,
it's hard to believe the petite yet curvaceous bombshell has a weakness
for rice and desserts. She starts her day with a work out and has a
healthy diet and small meals every three hours. She works with a personal
yoga and power yoga introduced to her by best friend and fellow actress
Kareena Kapoor, better known as Bebo. Amrita's career in front of the
camera began when most of us were completing the weaning process. At the
tender age of two, Amrita and sister Malaika did a nappy advert. At 17 she
went on to win the MTV Veejay hunt contest and by 20 she'd been spotted by
producer and director Mehul Kumar. "It was a natural progression that just
fell into my lap."
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"Growing up there was no scope for comparison. The only time I
started getting compared to her was when I got into the industry and they'd
say, 'Oh but you're not sexy like your sister." Ironically, Malaika was
actually "discovered" at one of Amrita's shoots when she dutifully came to
pick her up. "My sister walks in and it's like in the movies, you open the
door and there's a rush of wind and she flicks her hair in slow motion. I
saw my whole shoot stop…
She was a typical college girl, all of 17 in her jeans and her tee and her
files and her bag. The photographer looked at her and just said, 'I want to
shoot you.'" And the next day she was shot and by the end of the week she
was the society magazine Face of the Year."
Amrita's ad came and went and she jokes that Malaika now owes her |
ten percent of all earnings since she was discovered that fateful
day. "Malaika became so huge and she became an icon and someone to reckon
with and everywhere I went I was always Malaika's little sister and I'd
automatically get that extra edge. She made it easier for me even at MTV
because she was always there looking out for her little sister. She had a
protective eye. She had support in whatever I went on to do."
"I was a little more quirky. I'd dress a little different than she'd dress
and then I'd get compared and hear, ‘Why can't Amrita be like Malaika?’ I
think the one thing that I stuck to was that I didn't try to copy her or
emulate her." While Malaika was often described as sexy, Amrita was tagged
bubbly and she was happy with that image. Were any toes stepped on or egos
hurt? "I don't feel bad because I am her little sister and that is a
biological fact that is never going to change. Success ratios may go up and
down but I still like when I go places and I'm introduced as Malaika's
little sister."
The duo remain very close and are very much a part of one another's
day-to-day life. They speak to each other several times a day and visit
often. Amrita's recently purchased a flat in Bandra not far from where
Malaika stays and lives there wit her parents. "When you have two daughters
I don't think you can ever stop being protective," and my mother actually
waits up for me after shoots. "Dad handles my finances and he teaches me
about my computer and how technologically savvy I should be. They live with
me and I think they are the best parents a girl could wish for."
The flat, which is actually two smaller flats merged into one, is spacious,
bright and pristine. The contemporary yet minimal space, home to Amrita and
her parents for the last six months, adheres to style principles: clean,
crisp and cool with a healthy dash of "bling" peppered in the mix.
Earlier in her career, with releases like Girlfriend, in which Amrita plays
a lesbian, she was often coined controversies child. "It kind of got
confused in the whole sleaze fest that was going on at that stage. I wish it
were treated more sensitively rather than going commercial," she says. |
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