NEHA DHUPIA
HONDA CITY

She's prettier than a picture, and has skyrocketed to stardom, going from Miss India-Universe to queen of the marquee. Vardhan Kondvikar finds out what she most wants from a car.

"I quite enjoy watching Formula 1 on TV - I especially like all those hot drivers! "

It's a hard job sometimes, you know. I have to leave our Arctic air-conditioned office, part from my beloved computer with its rippling monitor screen (which has just gone diagonal), leave behind the Cream Cracker biscuits - and go interview some extremely pretty women. Trust me, it's tough.
Let me tell you just who it is, and you'll understand the problems of the profession.
It's Neha Dhupia, who was Femina Miss India Universe 2002, looked very pretty indeed in Qayamat, looked better still in Julie, and now she's before me in person. She isn't wearing that yellow knotted-bikini number from Julie, but well... Be still, my heart. It was a bit of a job getting through to her, ensconced in her trailer, for the interview, for we were intruders on a film set. But when we do meet her, she's graciously apologetic - she's been ill, and has been sleeping through barbiturates. You wouldn't know it by looking at her though, because she still looks like a few million dollars.
Right, I've just been gaping at Ms Dhupia, possibly for quite a while. Hurriedly, I shoot through the questions.
Her current steed is a gold Honda City 1.5, of the previous incarnation - a gift from friends after her rise to stardom. "I got this one over a year ago, and I'll probably change it soon. I hate having constants in my life - it's so much fun to change over. The Honda's a nice car, but it's not something you'd want."
What she'd really like to have is "a home on wheels, where I can sleep, relax, move from place to place and stop wherever I feel tired, and most of all, eat!" But not one of the monster SUVs, because it also has to be manageable and easy to drive, and definitely feminine. Since she's thinking of trading up, I suggested some sort of MPV, with seats that fold, swivel, form tables, mix exotic cocktails, etc. If she wants the car to be a little mobile home and café, there's nothing better.
There's plenty of idle chit-chat, about her life in New Delhi, as an Armed Forces daughter, of travelling around with her fathers's Yezdi and Premier Padmini around and outside the capital, about the films she's done -Qayamat, Julie and the forthcoming Rakht. We talked about the weird old Cielo her character drives in her latest movie Kya Cool Hain Hum. In one scene, she's supposed to jam the brakes hard; she did, but eerily, the car kept moving. It's all very convivial - no airs or tantrums, just a nice conversation, with occasional pauses for me to mop up my drool.
There are some startling revelations about her, though: she doesn't like noisy men. This tidbit comes up when we're discussing Formula 1 - apparently, she quite likes watching it especially for the "hot men," and likes Mika Hakkinen and chocolate-boy Jarno Trulli; she's delighted when I tell her the poor Italian has a vocal cord problem and cannot talk.
Nor apparently, does she like noisy cars. She hates sports cars, and believes a car should really be just compact and functional, very understated - an exception is the new Rolls-Royce Phantom, which she loves.
She relates an embarrassing incident: she had arrived in Australia, and in welcome, the local authorities sent over a suburb-sized limousine, which was just too ostentatious for her.
Right, mouth revised to non-gape-position, hands shaken, thanks given. And now, the interview and photoshoot done, I'm relieved to be finally going back to my computer and the Cream Crackers, after the ordeal of ogling a former Miss India. Like I said, it's a hard life.