Chitrangada Singh on Bollwyood wa

She embodies Bollywood’s new sexy. With her caramel skin, melting eyes and smouldering intensity, Chitrangada Singh would be striking in any age. Her strong individualism and unconventional roles add to the actor’s sensuality, making her an interesting study in what makes a woman hot on 70 mm today, discovers Sona Bahadur
Step aside, size-zero bikini bods and raunchy item sirens. It's time for sensuality with some real substance and soul. The new sexy goes way beyond physical attributes. It's about soft edge. It's about a bolder take on things. It's about smarts. It's about being imperfect yet comfortable in your own skin. It's about sensuality 360o. Chitrangda Singh fills the bill perfectly.

Styled like a Greek goddess by Verve in graceful, fluid drapes by Shantanu and Nikhil and Gayatri Khanna and shot against the grainy drama of a building in renovation, Chitrangda makes a striking contrast against the rubble. It's an apt visual metaphor for the actor who recently decided to resurrect her career after a mysterious three-year vanishing act. Billed the next Smita Patil after her sensational debut in Sudhir Mishra's 2003 political epic, Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi, her sudden exit from films caused near panic among the industry's 'thinking' directors. Serious about her second innings, the actor is here with Onir's Sorry Bhai and is excited about portraying an ultra-stylish, modern-day Chandramukhi in mentor and close friend Sudhir Mishra's Aur Devdas, a political adaptation of Devdas set in contemporary times.

Interestingly, her absence only seems to have added to her enigma. After nearly doing a film with Aamir Khan, she has now been signed opposite Saif Ali Khan for Mishra's next, The Nawab, the Nautch Girl and the Johns Company. Up close and personal with her after the shoot, I discover Chitrangda's magnetism is not merely about her looks. Be it her size-zero defying curves, her dusky skin, her unconventional choice of roles or her continuing popularity despite motherhood, the stunner is at the cutting edge of change, breaking stereotypes and established notions of desirability in Bollywood. Here's how she exemplifies the new sexy: