Steaming hot to steaming pot

Think Indian sex symbols of the ‘90s (not your Bollywood babes), and one of the first names that pops up in your mind is that of Tara Deshpande. She of the killer curves and the long, long hair, who scorched the screen in Bombay Boys as a gangster’s moll. After her wedding to firang Daniel Tennebaum 12 years ago, Tara shifted to the US, leaving the glitzy world of showbiz far behind. Now a caterer in the United States, Tara is also a published author, her latest book being Sense For Spices, based on Konkani cuisine.

She was in the city yesterday to promote her book. The lady is now the picture of wedded bliss, and is completely at ease with a chubbier frame. “You grow up, you know. I realise now that I’m not 22 anymore; trying to look like that again would be quite silly,” she says candidly when we ask her about whether she misses being a sex symbol. Few know that Tara, who was also a VJ and a model in the ‘90s, was India’s first resident MTV VJ.

“I was associated with MTV when it was MTV Australasia, not MTV India. All their other VJs, even if they were Indian, were based out of India,” says Tara, who was also a part of Sudhir Mishra’s cult classic Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin. Ask her if she wants to return to acting and her response is a contemplative “Maybe.”