There was a time when weight wasn't an issue. Be it Madhubala or Meena Kumari, the legendary divas were loved and celebrated for their wholesome beauty.
And then came the petite brigade of Sharmila Tagore, Saira Bano and Sadhana. The curvaceous troika of Asha Parekh, Tanuja and Mumtaz had no problems dealing with their slender competitors.
The 1970s saw the advent of slim beauties Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi. Though it was always the monopoly of buxom ladies like Hema Malini, Raakhee, Rekha or Neetu Singh at the top, it was ditto for voluptuous numero uno of the past like Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla.
The real reason why these women attained giddy levels of popularity was talent -- tons of it. Today, however, the emphasis is increasingly on looks, projection and not being too subtle about it.
The film industry, these days, is filled with former beauty queens and models and so the slimness quotient is on an all-time high.
No wonder the roly-poly Ayesha Takia, who got tremendous flak for her super chubby appearance in No Smoking and Sunday, has dropped food from her life with a vengeance. Recently, there were reports of her getting for a liposuction, which were rubbished by her folks.
While the 'getting-skinny-with-it' trend is booming to unhealthy levels in Hollywood, Bollywood is slowly catching up. For now, our girls are content losing weight, toning fat, doing power yoga, following weird diets and generally flaunting what they've got to the hilt with dramatic makeovers.
Here are actresses, who have worked hard on becoming real slim and sexy.
Bipasha Basu
Despite being a supermodel, Bipasha got complacent about her figure. Predictably, she put on oodles of weight, making her look bulky, big-time.
Thanks to fitness freak boyfriend John Abraham's timely intervention, Bips hit the treadmill to produce jaw-dropping results. Her svelte avatar helped her pull off teenie-weenie numbers with elan in Dhoom 2 and Race.
Aishwarya Rai BachchanIt's not like she was fat, anyway. But playing a 'khaate-peete ghar ki Punjabi kudi' in Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice proved to be a nightmare for Ash's otherwise slim disposition. Especially when she wore those off-shoulder gowns during her red carpet appearances at Cannes Film Festivals.
The flab took its own sweet time to leave before Mrs Bachchan bounced back looking hotter than ever in Dhoom 2.
Kareena Kapoor
Like sister Karisma, Kareena Kapoor too boasts of a perfect hourglass figure, film after film. And so those flabby arms and thunder thighs in Don's Yeh mera dil song were quite an unpleasant surprise.
Determined to lose it all, Bebo made Victoria Beckham her idol and gymming her full-time obsession -- exercising between shots, turning vegetarian, doing yoga, following a specific diet chart. Currently, there's not an ounce of fat to be seen on Tashan's Pooja. What our fashion-driven star probably doesn't realise is that there's a 'thin' line between trim and anorexic.
Preity Zinta
Bubbly and effervescent Preity made a pleasantly plump debut with Mani Ratnam's Dil Se. The sensual picturisation of her song Jiya jale, in the film, gave the viewers ample and uncomfortable view of Preity's not-so-curvy waistline.
Things had changed for the better by the time Salaam Namaste came out. The new, improved, trim PZ now has all the more reason to bare her midriff.
Madhuri DixitThe originally lithe Madhuri Dixit too had her share of weighty issues. Her out-of-shape appearance in an unfortunate series of bloopers like Mohabbat, Prem Granth, Koyla and Yaarana got her abundant flak.
Getting married to an outdoor sports-loving doctor certainly helped. The healthy glow and svelte grace of Mads is for all to see in her comeback venture, Aaja Nachle. The musical may not have done well, but the hot mommy of two certainly did.
