Soothing star

Tara who, you may well ask, and you can even be forgiven the question, since she has had only two releases so far in her brief stint with Bollywood. The first was the critically acclaimed but commercially lukewarm Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, and next is the Marc Robinson launch vehicle, Bada Din. That’s right, the promos youhave been seeing on channel after channel, Tara catching your eye with the generous show of a shapely pair of legs. "Come on, it was not vulgar," she laughs, as she sips her Fresh Lime (Rs 30). "It was a wonderful film and a great experience. Marc was so good, as was the rest of the cast including Shabana. Do you know, we got mobbed in Calcutta where we had been for the premiere?" Mumbai, of course, did not accord any such special treatment for the duo, but that does not faze Tara.

Clear-headed and rational, there are no uncertainties of youth one would normally associate with 22-year-olds, which was already proved to me by her choice of the restaurant. "Oh, I simply love Chinese food, and Ling’s in particular," she had said earlier. Thus it was that we were munching on Jade Roll (Rs 100) and Dim Sum (Rs 100) for starters at Baba Ling’s eatery behind Regal cinema. A self-confessed food faddie Tara, fortunately, is at an age where she needn’t keep an argus eye on her figure. At least not for another coupleof years….

But the food faddie is in more of a talkative mood than an eatative today. "You know, when we were in school, Karishma Kapoor quit studies (yes, same school) to join films. It was a big thing then, we spoke about it so much, running around trees etc. Yes, we were critical of Hindi films then. College, of course, was different. Satellite TV had come in, and there were so many Hindi films coming out everywhere, that it became acceptable. Even MTV and Channel V had gone Hindi, so it did not matter…"

Acting was something she had always done while in college, in plays and such, thanks to her involvement with the British Council. In fact, she was all ready to pack up and leave for warmer shores when the thought of making a career out of something she enjoyed doing struck.

The food was going nowhere, although the conversation had progressed miles into her past and present. Which was a tragedy, since Ling’s is easily among the topline Chinese restaurants; and the price very, very reasonable,given the ambience and stuff like that. Gently, I try and push some Jade Rolls on her plate, but she quickly takes evasive action.

Smart kid, I tell myself, as she deftly handles inconvenient questions, and disarms with a smile. Attractive in a simple way, there is little makeup on the girl who was not averse to playing Nirmal Pandey’s cuckolded wife in Is Raat Ki… Even in Bada Din, she dons a mature role, but that, she clarifies, is only towards the end of the film when she gets married. "Yes, it is a mannequin," she says with heart-warming candour, "and why not?"Right now, she tells you, she is taking in everything, as a 22-year-old ought to. So in her brief stint on planet earth, she has already done veejaying for MTV, acted in plays Alyque Padamsee’s Begum Sumroo being the high point done films, will be starring in a music video shortly, and hopes to turn writer with her collection of poems and short stories. Whew, that is packing one helluva lot…

But, unfortunately, the food is not moving. Bynow we are served the Rainbow Rice non-veg (Rs 110) and Mongolian Chicken (Rs 150), by the liveried and unobtrusive waiter. Actually, Ling’s is known for its seafood, and the tragedy was that we had not done justice to all the stupendous cuisine.Anyway, so does Tara think she has arrived? Hardly, she says, there is nothing of the star symbols on me. Like "I still move around in taxis and autos in the suburbs, don’t carry a mobile phone. In fact, friends of mine saw me in an auto at Khar the other day and were surprised. It is just that I feel comfortable the way I am. I like my privacy, and just because I am in the public domain I would not like to lose that. I would like to go out and buy vegetables, go walking on the streets and not lose that freedom. Should stardom necessarily mean their loss?"

Among her future projects are the film adaptation of Kaizad Gustad’s Bombay Boys, which Tara is very kicked about. "It is a different kind of film, there are parallel streams of stories and at one point all ofthem converge and diverge again," she goes on excitedly.

The food, alas, by now, is only half finished, and it sure looks like we are going to need the help of a doggie bag. The topic, naturally, turns to food.Among the privileged few who live on those seafacing mansions of Marine Drive, Tara’s idea of the city does not extend, well, beyond Worli and Bandra. Thus, her favourite restaurants are on this part of town, Anandashram at Kotachiwadi being a hot favourite.

The Deshpandes, apparently, are a level-headed lot, Tara’s decision to act in films generating a lot of discussion and decision about the kind of films she will and will not do. What are out are the titillating and even meaningless ones. "I have made a couple of mistakes, and do not want to repeat them," she stresses meaningfully.

I can readily point out one, ordering food that had no chance of getting finished. That was no judgement on its quality, but a comment on how much she / we spoke. To paraphrase an American President, it is better tojaw-jaw than to chow-chow which is quite apt, since part of our conversation also revolved around the shenanigans of the incumbent of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.