that thing you do!

TOUCHING ON TABOO TOPICS Yup, life's coming up roses and daffodils for the girl who, not very long ago, was flummoxed. Her first few movies had'nt exactly done wonders for her....plus, there were putdowners in the media, making her out to be a flippant fraulein. But as they say, time is the great healer. Tabu is now hot property on both side of the Vindhyas and she has also found a guy after her heart.

I have this sneaking regard for the actress who had to steel herself, field columny and keep her head above the flotsam and funk of the show-and-tell business.

Which is why on a Sunday afternoon respite for catching a nap...I chug-a-lug to a distant studio where she's in the midst of a danceroo with a gang of junior artistes bedecked in blue-and-pink pompoms.

Tabu is looking slim as a reed; it seems she has lost 11 kilos after an intense diet which she stuck to for nearly a year.

I chide her (a little) for disappearing from my life for the last six months. She berates me for not calling.... but then the voice at the other end, always tells me, "Taaabu to baahar gaya." So what to do?

To do plenty. Like knowing what's up in Tabudom. "Ooh, I'm on the top of the world," she raves, citing the reasons, "See, two of my films - Prema Desam which is the Telugu version of the Tamil Kadhal Desam.... and Ninne Peladtha, another Telugu film, have done super business at the box office. And though hits have never made me happy just the way flops have never made me sad, I can't help feeling vindicated. After all, I had nearly 18 flops to my credit.... or should I say discredit?"

Calling for tea, which arrives in baby mugs, she yaks about everything from the moon to the stars (the sort you see in the sky). I could keep listening. But since she's so chuffed about the turn that her career has taken, I wonder what attracts her to acting.

Without rolling her eyes or putting on a serious-as-Sartre expression, Tabs smiles wide, "Arre, acting is as attractive as the handsomest guy in the world. I'm pulled towards it because I can create something with so many different inputs - like how my character dresses, how she behaves..... her attitude. And I'm attracted by characters who're challenging to play because then I've to think, really think, apply myself instead of just walking and dancing like a wind-up doll before the camera."

She says that her Kaalapaani role required thought and application. "But don't get me wrong," she adds, "it was'nt difficult to play the bride whose husband is taken away by the British soldiers on their wedding day itself. Since I could relate with the character, I did'nt feel inadequate at all. No role is impossible, really...."

Catching the oh-now-really expression on my face, she laughs, "I'm fairly talented you know...so many people would come up and tell me that even when I did'nt have a single successful film to my name."

Uh, huh. I manoeuvre the talk towards Jeet in which she appeared to be marginalised... even though her beau Sajid Nadiadwala was its producer. How come?

Answer: "I thought the role was good, it had potential... but it turned out to be something else... which is why I'm glad that they called it a guest appearance. In any case, whatever remained of the role was liked by the audience... I'm told the audience clapped wildly when I talk back sarcastically to the police inspector."

Maybe, maybe. But wasn't the part of Tulsi, the noble-hearted tawaif, a rip off from the courtesan played by Rekha in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar? "But then the entire film did seem to be inspired by Muqaddar Ka Sikandar," she replies frankly. "But unlike Rekha, I didn't have a death scene. If I'd been given as much footage as her, my death would have been justified. But if I'd just popped off after a few, stray scenes, it wouldn't have made sense." The junior artistes ask Tabs to treat them to colas. And she does, drawing out a few hunners from her hand-bag. She tries to move on from the Jeet issue.

But I continue to wonder how come Sajid, her friend, philosopher and guide didn't do anything to give her role more meat. "Ooh, I must tell him that," she chuckles. "But please he's not my philosopher and guide... he's a sweetie-pie friend... See on Jeet, I didn't get hot and bothered about the role. After all the story did revolve around Karisma Kapoor both the guys, Sunny Deol and Salman Khan, weren't exactly fighting over me... were they?

"In fact the love track between Karisma, Sunny and Salman was so strong that it didn't make sense for me to do one more song in the film. Initially the song.... Dharti pe chaahe jahan rahegi... was to be shot in Egypt on Sunny and me. By that time, the triangle had become so interesting that if the number was shot on me, it would have deviated from the storyline. I didn't do the song keeping the overall impact of the film in mind... and not because Sajid told me not to."

If Tulsi didn't have much to do in Jeet, why did she accept the role in the first place. Tabs has an instant retort to that, "Simply because I was offered the role of a prostitute for the first time... and it's not every day that you get to play a prostitute. Believe me, I'm not an insecure kind of actress... even if a couple of scenes excite me, I'll do the film. Like I'm doing another guest appearance in Kalpana Lajmi's Darmiyaan. If I felt l was getting a raw deal in Jeet, I wouldn't have insisted that the song should be picturised on Karisma, and not me."

Since we're on the subject of insecurity, could she tell me what rocks and rattles her? "Why should I get raffled?" Tabs counter questions. "I'm at peace with myself... I'm not a saint though... it's not as if I'm devoid of emotion... but I don't worry about anything more. Jo hoga so hoga."

So when's the wedding? "Nothing is fixed yet," she responds evasively. "I don't know, I really don't. But the film trade has jumped to its own conclusions, even finalising the wedding date. Maybe they'll even calI off the wedding on their own."

On love and all that, the actress is tight-lipped... sorta, as she says, in a low husk, "Don't ask me about the past or the present. And by the way, even the last time you asked me to talk about love. Till this day, I believe that love means different things to different people. Every one in this world has a different definition of love. According to me it can't be defined. Like how can I ever explain the feeling when I get goose bumps?"

With tongue rolling in the cheek, she states, "Now, I know you'll ask me about my ideal guy. It doesn't need much imagination to know the answer to that one. I've found someone, so you should know what my Mr Right Guy is."

I ask her straight off whether she thinks Sajid is good-looking, "Of course, he is." she exclaims."For me, he's better looking than my heroes." If she doesn't talk 19 to the two dozen about Sajid, it's because, "I don't want our relationship to sound stale by talking about it in the press. There's a certain unspoken magic between us... and it's better to leave it that way."

Okay, so she knows what makes for an ideal guy. But what about the ideal woman... what should she be like? "She should be sensitive, conduct herself with dignity and shouldn't be afraid of getting emotional. Emotions are a woman's strength. Believe me, men can be ruthless and uncaring but not women... maybe because they have that extra advantage of motherhood stored deeply within them."

As the late afternoon shadows lengthen, she looks me hard in he eye, "Please, you'll make me sound like an authority on men and women... can't we talk about something else?"

We can. Like let's talk about Maachis. Beams she like a 100-watt bulb, "The film is very close to me. I played a simple and straightforward girl. Gulzar saab treated me like his very own daughter... I did what I was told to, it was like being taught to walk all over again."

Did she ever discuss the script with him? "What're you saying?" she widens her eyes with horror. "I wouldn't dare to. I'm not in a position to talk about the script with such a senior film-maker. To be absolutely honest, I don't have any sense of script or direction at all. I carry out the instructions, whether it's for Maachis... or Vijaypath which was my first claim to fame. I can never forget what Ruk ruk did for me... it made people all over the country know that there was someone called Tabu."

She admits that she was a bit raw and callow in her early lot of films. "But from the beginning I've worked hard on every film," she adds. "Even if a film's story defies logic, I do my scenes with all my conviction. Like Saajan Chale Sasural may seem unbelievable but all of us had such a blast while it was being shot. We would laugh our eads off... and I think the sense of fun showed in the final result."

On the other hand, Kaalapaani meant switching to a serious mode. "Initially, I was so excited when Priyan (Priyadarshan) offered me the role," she recapitulates. "Everyone knows that Malayalam cinema is performance oriented. He narrated my role to me in one line. Immediately, I knew it was a damn good role though it was quite brief. And Kaalapaani was being made by a terrific crew with Santosh Sivan as its cameraman.

"On the whole, I would say that the experience of doing a Malayalam film was like going to school and learning the alphabet. In Kerala, the approach towards film-making is so different. They believe in doing their homework and rightfully insist on rehearsals."

The actress thought it wouldn't be much sweat to speak in Malayalam because she's well-versed in Telugu (she spent most of her childhood in Hyderabad). "But when it came to actually speaking Malayalam, I discovered that it was very different," she re- winds. "I almost collapsed with fright, I couldn't remember a word. I even started crying because I couldn't manage the language.

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