ORIGINAL SURTI OOMPH LA LA!

Original Surti Oomph La La!

Hollywood’s ultimate sweetheart Marilyn Monroe once observed,” The trouble with censors is that they worry if a girl has cleavage. They ought to worry if she hasn't any.”

Bollywood’s cleavage kumaris on the other hand, have a heavier load to carry; they work hard to bust myths that women who expose skin and a little more other intimate stuff, need not know how to act as well.

As women go ‘eeeyuw!’ in disgust and men drool oh la la in lust over Vidya Balan’s dirty pictures that have been in our faces since a month now, Surti Lalas are lamenting for a different reason altogether.

Ever since Lalas became aware that Balaji Film’s blasphemous yet famous upcoming flick has been ‘inspired’ by the late southern siren Silk Smitha, speculation has been rife in our man made textile markets as to how our Art silk nee Nylon Namithaa, would have been the best choice for the role, compared to Viscose Vidya.

Earlier this year, I had interviewed Vidya and she had opened her heart sharing girlie secrets saying,” Deep down I am actually just a simple Tam –Brahm girl who loves collecting jhumkis, removes her ayurvedic kaajal with desi ghee and lounges about in comfy Juicy Couture track pants when not shooting cinema, there is nothing over ambitious about me. ”

Consider this, an actor who had worked with Silk in the past pointed out to TOI that,"Vidya lacks oomph and looks nothing like Silk. Her physical attributes don't add up. Silk was dusky, she was slightly over 5 feet 7 inches tall; her eyes were big and when she did those sexy movements of licking her thick luscious lips and rolling her eyes up in a dreamy way, she gave men something to think about.”

Surat’s Namithaa on the other hand, fits the description of Silk‘s bill to a T. Other than being equally voluptuous, like Smitha, Namita hails from a small town yet has achieved superstar status on her own gutsy chutzpah and charm. Like Silk, she has successfully played the sultry seductress and flirty Savithri among other roles, wearing knotty blouses in Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam and Kannada films. In 2009, with her first Malyalam flick Black Stallion, she became ‘the most Googled Indian Actress’

From a plain Jane girl next door in Adajan, Namita Vankawala to Namithaa Kapoor the southern superstar for whom, fans have built an exclusive temple, was a journey accomplished by flaunting vital stats along with acting assets for a long run in the industry.

Tapi town’s veteran theatre personality, Kapil Dev Shukla , who trained Namita, an MTB College of Art’s student in dramatics reminisces how sincere she was, “She was under my tutelage from 1999 to 2004 and was a keen and quick learner with great potential. After winning Miss Surat, she acted in four plays for my company. She was extremely hard working and always came prepared with her dialogues, her diction was extremely clear. The first role she enacted was in my play ‘Priya Pappa’ and you may be surprised to know she played the character of a mother in it. ”

It took a lot of convincing to get Namita’s parents to allow her to participate for the 2001 Miss India title. In her own words, she came from “a very orthodox family where girls get married at the age of 19.” Her businessman father and homemaker mother were not too happy about their daughter joining the glamour industry. That year, Celina Jaitley won the title, Namita was the fourth runner up but, secured first position in the ‘viewer’s choice ‘category. Since 2002, she shed her inhibitions and catapulted to Tolly/ Kollywood queen status. Back home, if Namithaa were to walk Surti streets, few would recognize her, leave alone worship her, but this buxom babe has always maintained that it is Surat alone that strums the strings of her heart.

Surat dished out Bollywood’s very first sizzlers- Fatma Begum, Sultana, Shahzadi and Zubeida who set box-office cash counters jingling, sent censors in a tizzy and drove viewers crazy. Like them, Namitha has made it big on her own in alien territory on the mere basis of her original Surti oomph la la.