It is Saturday evening, and Bipasha Basu is answering my questions over voice notes.
“Really?” Basu laughs.
On Bipasha Basu: Black mermaid cut corset gown and sheer fringe stole, both by Rocky Star; Cascade tassel earrings by TAD Accessories; White enamel geometric ring by Vasundhara Jewelry.
I was a girl from nowhere, and even after so many years everybody knows who Bipasha Basu is.
Before we finish, I ask what she hopes a young woman discovering Bipasha Basu today sees beyond the glamour.
It is Saturday evening, and Bipasha Basu is answering my questions over voice notes. In theory, an efficient way to conduct an interview. In practice, there is a three-year-old in the room who has decided she has some thoughts of her own.
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“My mama is the funniest mama in the whole wide world,” announces Devi, Basu’s daughter, somewhere in the middle of our conversation.
“Really?” Basu laughs. “That’s what you want everyone to know, that your mama’s funny?”
“Oh yes,” she squeals.
It is chaotic, very sweet and probably a more accurate introduction to Basu today than anything I could have planned.
On Bipasha Basu: Black mermaid cut corset gown and sheer fringe stole, both by Rocky Star; Cascade tassel earrings by TAD Accessories; White enamel geometric ring by Vasundhara Jewelry
The woman at our shoot earlier that week is still unmistakably Bipasha. The glamour looks like muscle memory. The camera comes on, and she knows exactly what to do with it, without any sense that she is trying to recreate a version of herself from two decades ago.
When Basu arrived in Hindi cinema at the beginning of the 2000s, she did not look like the prevailing prototype of a heroine, and she knew it. “Mostly the actresses were very petite, fair, with very delicate features. So yes, I stood out very differently. I was very tall, very athletic and tanned, and with very strong features.”
Today, those differences barely register. At the time, they did.
On Bipasha Basu: Custom Leher maxi dress by Studio Picante; Vintage Chanel turquoise stone earrings by Beg Borrow Steal Studio; Natural Tibetan turquoise choker by Amar Gems
Her earliest choices were similarly unexpected. She began with Ajnabee, playing an antagonist when actresses were generally expected to make safer debuts. “Nobody used to debut in a negative role, and I did that in Ajnabee. It wasn't a plan on my end; it was just something I was interested in. I thought the character was really interesting. The audience received me tremendously. I didn’t even think that would happen.”
Then came Raaz. Supernatural films were hardly considered the safest route to A-list stardom at the time, but the film became an enormous success and Basu a household name. “I decided that whatever I do, I’m definitely going to try and not do the regular roles. A lot of interesting roles started coming to me because people knew that I was a risk taker and I was already accepted by the audiences.”
And then she chose Jism. “Everybody in the business told me, ‘Do not do this film.’ They said I would be finished if I did something which had a little bit of erotica. And my take was that I’m an adult. It’s an adult love story. It is made as an adult film. It is not for the kids. I really enjoyed the shades of Sonia in that film, and I just knew that I had to do it.”
On Bipasha Basu: Antique gold sequin corset gown and cape, both by Rocky Star
The look became as memorable as the film. Bronzed skin, kohl-heavy eyes, textured hair, white against the beach. Basu’s sexuality never seemed particularly interested in apologising for itself.
“Suddenly the waves and the tongs and the big kohl, the bronze skin, the white outfits, the beach, everything started trending in a big way. The look completely changed, and people really started accepting the bold. So I do think there are things that I have done which changed the way a woman looked at that point of time in our business for the better.” She adds, “It’s not just that I did different things; it’s also that I got accepted differently.”
For women who did not see themselves in the delicate, fair-skinned ideal that dominated popular culture at the time, Basu offered another possibility. She was tall, athletic, tanned and visibly strong, and none of those things were presented as something she needed to soften.
She also made fitness part of her public identity long before every actor had a Pilates instructor and wellness became a content category.
On Bipasha Basu: Embroidered strap silk column dress by Balmain via Galeries Lafayette; Turquoise, Opal and Diamond ring, all by PCT Jewels
Ironically, her own relationship with fitness had very little to do with aesthetics. Problems with her knees led doctors to tell her she might require surgery and potentially have difficulty dancing or performing action sequences. “I wanted to be absolutely fit and not dependent on anybody, and I wanted to do everything that the doctors told me I couldn’t do. So I started weight training, I started my physio, and I started understanding what the human body is capable of.”
At the time, muscular women were hardly the preferred image of Hindi-film femininity. “I don’t think women with more muscle tone were very acceptable as actresses. But I think I started the trend, and I started preaching ‘love yourself’ to everyone because I realised it’s not just about looking good. It’s more intrinsic. You need to be healthy.”
She is less convinced by where the fitness conversation has ended up. “I like that now everybody exercises. I think that is one very healthy trend that has happened. Everybody does understand the pluses of exercising. I don’t know if people are doing it for the right reasons though. I don’t think it’s mostly health that they are looking for. They are looking for the physical externals.”
On Bipasha Basu: Black mermaid cut corset gown and sheer fringe stole, both by Rocky Star; Cascade tassel earrings by TAD Accessories; White enamel geometric ring by Vasundhara Jewelry
Few people know what it is like to have their bodies discussed publicly for decades. Motherhood simply gave people a new version of the conversation. “The conversation around women’s bodies is quite bizarre even now. Magically, when you give birth, you are supposed to get back into the shape of your twenties even when you are in your forties. What's expected of a 20-year-old is expected of a 40-year-old. And if you’re not bouncing back, they’re going to troll you. They’re going to be massively brutal.” She experienced it herself after Devi was born. “I went through major, major trolling. A few insensitive paps took really bizarre pictures of me. They don’t see how much effort the woman must be putting in, how much they have to do with a baby, with their life, with their lifestyle and also their personal pressures. Nobody really cares. Everybody expects you to bounce back.”
Basu has had enough years in the public eye to know which opinions deserve her attention.
“I’m an extremely confident person, so no kind of trolling can break me. I know what my journey is, I know what work I need to put in, when I need to put it in, and I will go with that. Outside noise does not really matter.”
Which brings us to the word that came up repeatedly when we told people we were shooting her: cool.
On Bipasha Basu: Custom Leher maxi dress by Studio Picante; Vintage Chanel turquoise stone earrings by Beg Borrow Steal Studio; Natural Tibetan turquoise choker by Amar Gems
“That’s a huge compliment, that I’m considered cool by all age groups. I really don’t know how people think and what people think. I’m just myself, and I am my confident self from the time I was a young teenager, when I modelled, when I acted, when I got married. Now I’m a mother. So I guess I have to attribute it to my confidence and self-belief.”
She has also become very good at ignoring noise. “The choice of profession that I have made means my life is open to judgement and criticism at all points of time. Very early in life, I understood what I need to accept and what I need to cut off. There's a lot of noise, and especially now with social media, everyone can critique you. So it’s very important that you are really confident within yourself, in your life, in your space, and you actually love yourself and like the things that you do. I don’t know if that makes me cool or not, but this is the only way I know.”
She has little interest in performing celebrity off-camera either. “In today’s time, the pressures of having a PR machinery to put your best foot forward, even if you’re stepping out for your gym or just buying some groceries, it’s a lot of pressure. There are some people who fall into that pressure, and they put a lot of effort into doing basic things also, like they’re walking a ramp. It’s just not me. I can’t do that.” She shares parts of her life because she wants to, but has asked photographers not to shoot Devi. “I do share bits and pieces of my life because I enjoy doing that and I’m proud of my life. But I don’t want any kind of judgement for my kid at such an early age. I think it’s a personal choice. You can be as private as you want to be or as public as you want to be.”
On Bipasha Basu:Antique gold sequin corset gown and cape, both by Rocky Star
The same clarity extends to ageing. “Ageing is like the biggest sin that you can commit,” she laughs. “I believe that I like myself more, the person that I am today, much more than what I used to be in my twenties.” She credits her parents for excellent genes, admits that she does relatively little to her skin and hair, and has no interest in chasing a younger version of herself. “What other people are doing, it’s their call. I don’t judge that. But for me, I’m never going to fall into the pressure of wanting to look younger than what I am. I’m very happy with the way I am growing older, and I’m very proud of my age.”
At home, beauty is simpler. Devi will occasionally look at her mother, in home clothes and with unbrushed hair, and tell her she is beautiful. “When it comes out of the blue, it just hits me. I’m like, I don’t need any more compliments from anybody else because my daughter thinks I am beautiful. I feel beautiful with my little family, my partner, my mother, my daughter. They all think I’m the most beautiful girl on this planet, not just the way I look, but because of my heart. That makes me feel very powerful.”
Motherhood, she says, changed everything. “I’m not the same person I used to be after giving birth to Devi. I think it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done, or I could have ever done.” Being with a child, she says, has made familiar things feel new again. “Every day that I live with my daughter, I see the whole world with absolutely fresh eyes. The wonder in her eyes when she does the smallest of things, I’m living off that wonder, and I’m seeing how beautiful life is and how every small thing is so important.”
For several years, acting could wait. Now she is ready.
On Bipasha Basu: Black mermaid cut corset gown and sheer fringe stole, both by Rocky Star; Cascade tassel earrings by TAD Accessories; White enamel geometric ring by Vasundhara Jewelry. White tiger print rug from the stylist’s personal collection.
“I am an actor, and I’m extremely eager to act now. I was not ready for some time because I wanted to give my hundred per cent to my child. But I think she’s in a place where she has longer hours at school, classes, and her own friends. So now I do have a little bit of time where I can step out and do the job that I like doing, which is to act.”
Streaming interests her because it gives a character space. “I do want to act in films, definitely, but I want to explore shows where you can have a long arc of a character, which we don’t get to do in films. I have no preconceived ideas about what I want to do. As and when I resonate with a particular script and a particular character, I will do it. It could be anything.”
She is also curious about what exactly has changed for women since she stepped away. “People say that lots has changed for women. I want to see what has changed for women in our business. I want to see what kind of wonderful, exciting opportunities come my way and what I finally choose.” And now there is an audience of one whose opinion matters enormously. “I want my daughter to know what I do and hopefully one day show her the kind of work that I do, and make her understand what an actor is.”
When Basu looks back at the woman she was, there is no urge to distance herself from her. “When I look back at these covers, and the years of work that I’ve done, whether it is the fashion shoots, the covers or the acting work, I’m extremely proud of myself. No matter what I’ve gone through in my life, I have always been true to my craft, very professional and always confident.” Then she adds, quite simply: “I’m extremely proud to be Bipasha Basu. I was a girl from nowhere, and even after so many years everybody knows who Bipasha Basu is. Even the younger generation who might not have seen all my films knows all my songs. The songs are still trending on social media. It just makes me smile. I feel extremely, extremely proud of myself.”
On Bipasha Basu: Embroidered strap silk column dress by Balmain via Galeries Lafayette; Turquoise, Opal and Diamond ring, all by PCT Jewels
There is no nostalgia in the way she says it. She is not trying to stay permanently visible or constantly manufacture a new version of herself. She seems perfectly comfortable with what she has already built, and equally interested in what might come next.
Before we finish, I ask what she hopes a young woman discovering Bipasha Basu today sees beyond the glamour.
“If a young woman discovers me today, besides glamour, what I intend for her to see in me is confidence. That I am a very funny girl. And I guess strength of character, sticking to your own guns and not being dictated by others. I hope they get to see this side of me and they like it.”
Somewhere nearby, Devi has already made her own editorial assessment.
Her mama is the funniest mama in the whole wide world.
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