Feng Shui of Shilpa Shetty

Feng Shui of Shilpa Shetty, Mandira Bedi, Rakhi Sawant, Shekhar Suman and all those whose success is dramatic and sudden!
 
Shilpa Shetty was the proverbial dark horse on Channel 4's reality TV show, Celebrity Big Brother. She could be described as B-grade heroine with little work and much less promise. Shilpa had accepted her fate and even an opportunity to judge Jhalak Dikhla De a TV show, on ewhich had been rejected by Karisma Kapoor because of low payment. No one in their wildest fantasies, not even Shilpa’s mother, could have imagined the kind of money, fame and success she has got now.

Besides being paid over 40,000 pounds for participating in this show and winning another 100,000 pounds, she has scores of lucrative offers: to work in Hollywood films, to write books and she has even been paid handsome amounts for giving exclusive interviews!
 
All this is remarkable for a girl, struggling for 13 years to find her feet in Bollywood, who is below average as an actor, is tactless (during “Baazigar” days, in a chat with me, she made fun of Shah Rukh Khan because he was shorter than her 5’10”), and everything that up market would frown at.

Feng Shui for Fame

In fact, behind her back, the more sophisticated in the industry have always sniggered at the Shetty girl’s uncouth behavior. Yet, it was this behavior that was instrumental in getting her international fame and money which even Aishwarya Rai has chased and failed to get! The way she disposed off the chicken bones in the bathroom (!) got on the nerves of the other contestants and though it got labeled as racial discrimination, the truth is that any civic minded, well-mannered Indian too would have disliked her habits. Yet, it got her big rewards!

Worse, though hardly anyone remembered during the racism controversy, Shilpa herself was accused of being a racist in a TV show in the past. She had appeared on the Asian network of Zee TV's ETC music channel, laughing at a sketch which echoed the 'Black and White Minstrel Show', which was axed in 1978 in Britain after protests against its alleged racist undertones. She had mocked the Africans!

In Feng Shui, the kind of sudden stroke of luck that has catapulted her to this dizzying height, is described as Heaven Luck. Had she been more successful, Channel 4 might have found her beyond reach or like her more successful counterparts, she might have declined the long weeks of `bondage`that is worse than solitary imprisonment.

Even more remarkable is the fact that the main door of the set of Celebrity Big Brother opens towards one of Shilpa’s lucky directions (Southwest, Northwest, West and Northeast) – Southwest!

Heaven Luck of Mandira Bedi

Another similar example is the way Mandira Bedi (undeservedly) shot to national fame.

After doing a forgettable TV serial, Shanti and a cameo in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge Mandira was a forgotten face when, after eight years of oblivion, she was chosen to co-present Extraaa Innings during the 2003 Cricket World Cup. This was when MAX, the sports and movie channel of SET, had decided to dumb down the game of cricket to increase the female viewership! It is difficult to choose the dumber one (as far as cricket is concerned) between Ruby Bhatia, the first choice, and Mandira, but apparently Mandira won the race as, besides attracting a female audience, she got more men to ogle at her spaghetti straps bustiers and off-shoulder tops. Since then, Mandira has been reaping the harvest that follows such fame.

Ditto for Rakhi Sawant!

The way an obscene-looking Rakhi Sawant has become a success has surprised the media pundits and the world. A down-market Maharashtrian girl, Rakhi’s rise started suddenly with a forced kiss of singer Mika Singh. Usually, protests by a girl in such a situation get her blacklisted in Bollywood but Rakhi went on getting into front pages, again and again. This `fame` got her Big Boss, and the resultant `fame` has even put her in Karan Johar’s Coffee with Karan, where she is in the company of the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukherjee.

Equally surprising was the rise of my friend Shekhar Suman during Dekh Bhai Dekh. He had been struggling for years and had been written off in the industry. Doing a TV serial, in those days, was considered an admission of failure in Bollywood. Ultimately, none of his costars in this serial got the kind of money, success and glory that Shekhar has got - at one time, TV’s highest paid star!.

It is this sudden rise in the fortunes that Feng Shui always aims for.

Feng Shui for Health

Never before have I written about health and I have always said that Feng Shui is not a healing science.

Yet, people often seek Feng Shui advice for health and, while insisting on a regular medical treatment (whether the more modern homeopathic, or allopathic or for that matter the ancient ayurvedic or unani or even the alternate treatments like crystal therapy, reiki, naturopathy etc), I do also offer Feng Shui advice for health.

Health, in fact, is the most important of the nine life corners [Wealth & Good Fortune, Fame and Glory, Marriage & Relationship, Children & Creativity, Family, Health, Helpful Friends & Patronage, Career & Opportunities and Knowledge] and good Feng Shui undoubtedly ensures good health.

I have started noticing its effectiveness in the Health area. Not only does good Feng Shui result in good health – and this will apply to the economic and infrastructural health of a business organization also – but sleeping with one’s head in the Health direction, positive energy in the house and a long life symbol on the energized painting of Earth (the element that rules the Health corner) on the wall, facing the Health direction of the patient ensure good Health Luck. Feng Shui may not be mistaken as an alternate healing system like Reiki, but it sure gets you the right doctors, the right medicines and the right cures.

Note: The right of privacy is sacred for me. The names of the people mentioned in the diary are usually changed to protect the identity of my clients. The real names are mentioned with the consent of people mentioned.The picture accompanying the article is only for representational purpose.

Write to Mohan Deep