DON'T MISS: The ugly past of B'wood divas

Bollywood is nothing without glitz, glamour and style. While the industry is witnessing a sea of change with countless newcomers every year, let's take a good look at the ruling ladies and their journey since their somewhat 'humble' beginnings..

They call her the Queen of Hearts. With a winning smile and
strong industry connections (uh hum, with a certain Mr Chopra),
Rani Mukerji had one of the most unglamorous debuts in
Bollywood. First seen as: The battered wife in Mehndi. Her
dresses left us ‘speechless’, of course, but what struck us was
the podgy little girl who obviously was scared to get her
eyebrows pulled out on screen as the ‘heroine’.

Vidya Balan has a great presence on screen and all her movies
since Parineeta have seen her deliver critically acclaimed
performances. But this babe took her time to make it to the top
and now that she’s here, she plans to make the most of it while
it lasts.

Kajol has been one of the only leading ladies in Bollywood who
exuded a certain confidence and independence that her audience
found irresistible. She has also been one of the few actresses
who didn’t care much about her appearance or the way she
looked. She simply preferred to let her talent to speak for
itself…

As the daughter of yesteryear stars Hema Malini and Dharmendra,
a lot was expected from Esha Deol. Unfortunately, her lack of
acting skills and oodles of baby fat almost sent her packing.
First seen as Eisha Singh in Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe – When it
released, we all wondered what this little girl with so much
baby fat was doing opposite the hunky Hrithik. She could have
well got the producer jailed for child labour.

Karisma Kapoor now Kapur was dressed as a boy in her first film
and sported two pigtails in most of her others. She was fair
and had baby blue eyes; but somehow that wasn’t enough. When
you look at Karisma Kapur today and compare it to what she
looked like in her first few films, you cant help but go “Holy
s***!”

Little sister Kareena Kapoor was no less either. Though she
made her big Bollywood debut in a time when designers had
already come of age, Bebo had her own list of fashion faux pas
to make. Her stupid frocks and lame attempts at covering the
extra fat, did not somehow make the actress look either cute or
sexy!

Preity Zinta was always cute. But ‘sexy’ never crossed our
minds when we saw her. Being little on the heavier side, this
actress was not what we thought could pass for a real Bollywood
diva. But we were to be proved wrong…

Shilpa Shetty is known to have the perfect vital stats but it
was a long time before she learnt the art of presentation. Her
first few movies saw her sporting the most hideous outfits and
the worst hairstyles. First seen as Seema in Baazigar – Even
with a body like hers, she looked extremely bland! So much so
that Kajol (with monobrow) looked prettier in comparison.

An actress who made her Bollywood debut at the age of seven,
Urmila has had one of the longest yet inconsistent careers in
the industry. Best remembered as the cute Pinky in Masoom. Her
turning point was Aamir’s Rangeela. Her short skirts and sexy
clothes made her enter the big league after all. Manish
Malhotra is to be held responsible.

Source