The Body Temple

She’s known for having one of the most sensual figures in the film industry and, at 41, is in the best shape she’s ever been. A strong proponent of organic, healthy eating and staying fit with yoga, Shilpa Shetty Kundra is fast becoming a role model for holistic living. She tells Farhad J Dadyburjor about how she has chosen to age gracefully, and inducting husband Raj and son Viaan into leading a more healthconscious life.

- Farhad J Dadyburjor

Shilpa Shetty Kundra might have completed her innings in Bollywood a while ago but she continues to make news. If it’s not for her numerous brand endorsements or IPL team (and its infamous scandal), of late it’s been her espousal of ‘clean eating’ that saw her pen a book with Luke Coutinho called The Great Indian Diet as well as her endorsement of the wonders of yoga. At 41, she’s in the best shape she’s ever been, which is almost a defiance of age. “I don’t know about defying age,” she laughs, “But age is just a number for me. I can’t defy age and I can’t stop the ageing process, but I can definitely choose the way I want to age. Which is why I’ve never understood why some actresses hide their age—we are in the time of Google, so what is there to hide?” In fact, she goes on to say, “I’d say the forties are the new thirties, or if I wanted to push it, I’d say twenty-five. I truly don’t feel like a fortyone year old.”

A great believer in organic, healthy eating, Shilpa realised she had better shipshape her eating habits after she delivered son Viaan. “After my delivery, I decided to change my lifestyle because I had put on a lot of weight. And being synonymous with being someone who once ‘had’ a body, to be out of shape was a little unnerving. Even I didn’t expect to be that size after my delivery—I thought I would shrink back, but I became bigger because I was eating everything,” she laughs.