By Harjap Singh Aujla

IN this age of specialisation, a female in the Indian filmdom can hold the centrestage without being a heroine of a movie. But this was not so about two decades ago: Helen was a great dancer, but she could never dream of replacing a heroine. However, today, a specialist in any art can outsmart the mediocre talent in acting and take precedence over the hero and the heroine. The world is changing and so is India. India’s film industry is no more revolving around love triangles.

Malaika Arora KhanMalaika Arora is a product of cross-cultural romance culminating in the birth of a wonderful child. Malaika Arora’s father Anil Arora is a Punjabi of mixed Hindu-Sikh descent. Like many other Punjabis, as an adventurer, he moved out from the small sleepy town of Fazilka in the non-happening hinterland of Punjab to Bombay, in search of greener pastures. In the cosmopolitan city of Bombay, he joined merchant navy. Being in the merchant navy can take you to places all over the world. A world trotter becomes a citizen of the world too. His outlook got changed and he started thinking with a broad mind.

In the cosmopolitan metropolis of Bombay, leaving aside his cultural inhibitions, he fell in love with a charming and intelligent Christian dame Joyce Polycarp. The fairy-tale cross-cultural courtship went on to establish an emotional bond between the young man and the attractive young lady. This led to their marriage and the birth of a very charming girl child on October 23, 1973. The child was named Malaika. Later on while in school, Malaika adopted Christianity as her religion. This choice by his child was totally acceptable to Anil Arora. The child later on developed a fiercely independent and intelligent personality.

Even during her childhood, Malaika became conscious about her future destiny. She probably was preparing to become a beauty of substance. In America, the concept of beauty does not mean facial beauty only. An American beauty has to possess a beautiful face over an equally beautiful body structure. She has to be curvaceous and all kinds of dresses must suit the shape of the body.

Malaika Arora KhanMalaika Arora’s diet was of her own choosing and she used to eat a balanced mixture of milk products, meats, fruits and vegetables, which helped in developing a lovely shape of this girl. She chose her exercises very carefully. All this led to Malaika Arora becoming another Beyonce or another Jennifer Lopez of the show business. In terms of athletic beauty in shape, she reminded of Florence Griffith Joyner of the 1988 Olympics or Marion Jones of 2004 Olympics. Her amazing elasticity and smoothness of reflexes and movements made her a perfect candidate to be a female dancer.

In her spare time, Malaika Arora learnt dancing. What she learnt, she rehearsed for hours in front of the mirror. Thus, she got rid of some not-so-impressive movements and mastered some aesthetically most-appealing movements. Let us face the fact that she is, not by any standards, a skinny woman. She is indeed a strongly built woman, but in proportion to her structure, she has a very small waistline. Her level of energy is always very high. And she is a vigorous dancer.

Malaika Arora KhanWhat dance steps others can’t do for 10 minutes, she can do for half an hour. Her dancing sessions are her workout sessions these days. Modern standards of beauty do not require one to be skinny. You can be strongly built and still can look beautiful if your proportions are good. Malaika does not cut her hair too short, rather in proportion to her body structure, she possesses pretty long hair. As she dances vigorously in perfect rhythm, her hair bounce in unison and that makes the dance sequence a lot more attractive.

During her college days, Malaika Arora studied in Jai Hind College in Churchgate area of Bombay. She was admired by her class fellows and the faculty. First of all in the professional field, Malaika tried her hand at video-jockeying in MTV India. She became an instant success. This encouraged her to enter the wide world of modeling and acting in films.

In 1993, at the age of 20, Malaika Arora acted in the film Aaja Meri Jaan. In 1998, she did the famous Chhaiyya chhaiyya dance sequence in the film Dil Se. In 2000, she acted in Bichhoo. In 2001, her hit role was in Indian. In 2002, she acted in Maa Tujhe Salaam as well as in Kante. In 2003, she was the popular lady in The Hero. In 2005, she acted in Kaal. In 2007, she had small but effective roles in Heyy Baby, Om Shanti Om, and Welcome. In 2008, she appeared in EMI. In 2009, she acted in Hello India, and in 2010, she had a memorable item song Munni badnaam hui in the blockbuster film Dabangg.

Malaika Arora Khan is in great demand. One item song picturised on her can make a film a blockbuster. We wish her a great career.

harjapaujla@gmail.com

South Asia Post - October 15, 2011