It was 1996, when a dusky Bengali belle caught the glamour world’s attention by winning Gladrags Super Model contest. That was Bipasha Basu’s first tryst with stardom. From the modeling world to Bollywood was just one step away and dutifully she took that step. The last decade has proved quite eventful in Bipasha’s none-too-successful and yet always in news-and-controversial career.

Deep Dark Desire

Only a few people will now remember the furore she caused in her modeling days by the clothes she wore (or didn’t wear!) in Calida ad-campaign but that stripping streak continued unabated in her Bollywood stint. After passing on Vinod Khanna’s tempting offer to star opposite his son Akshaye in his debut-vehicle Himalay Putra and then losing out on becoming Abhishek Bachchan’s debut film heroine as J.P.Dutta shelved his period epic Aakhri Mughal, Basu preferred to make her debut in unconventional fashion.

For starters she played the vampish seductress in Abbas- Mastan’s Ajnabee. Then she titillated further with some really hot on-screen sensuous scenes in Raaz (with her then boyfriend Dino Morea) and Jism (with her then to be and presently current boyfriend John Abraham.) Her well-sculpted voluptuous figure, dusky complexion and husky voice- all provided for a potent cocktail to stir the deepest and darkest desires. After all, she herself explained – ‘Bipasha’ means a deep, dark desire in Bengali!

Controversies

Her initial success was definitely the catalyst for the spate of Bollywood films relying on heroines all too willing to shed their clothes and rest of the inhibitions. But after a dazzling start to her career, she stumbled and stumbled badly. Flops like Gunaah, Aitbaar, Rudraksh, Rakht, Madhoshi and Chor Machaye Shor started accumulating regularly. Her battle of bulge, her private life- especially her far-too-comfortable relationship with her ex- and current boyfriends, her double-entendre commercial for a mobile-phone(I will go out with the one who has the smallest!!) - everything made news for the wrong reasons.