Shahid under ‘house arrest’

He’s been asked to stay away from public gaze for four months by Vishal Bharadwaj.

Shahid Kapoor has been barred from making any public appearances for the next four months by director Vishal Bharadwaj because the film-maker doesn’t want the actor to reveal the new look for his film. No Bollywood actor has been kept under such a ban before.

The move, it is learnt, is inspired from Aamir Khan who had imposed a similar ban on south Indian star Asin, who stars in the forthcoming Ghajini.

Sources say Shahid has been barred from making any public appearances till he gets a go ahead from the producers of his forthcoming film. As a result, Shahid is refusing every invitation extended to him that requires a public appearance. Not only that, the actor has been asked to take ‘adequate precautions’ so that not even one paparazzi shot comes out.

The actor, sources confirmed, couldn’t even attend the premiere of recent hit Dostana in spite of a personal invitation by Karan Johar.

“Shahid has imposed a virtual house arrest on himself. If he has to go out, he is ensuring that there is nobody is around to photograph him. He is also covering his face with his T-shirt hood when he going out. Shahid will not be seen in any of the public dos till March, 2009 when his movie Kameenay will be releasing,” says the source.

Shahid, it is learnt, is deviating from his chocolate-boy look and will be sporting a tanned and tough look in the film. The actor, sources say, has sunbathed for more than a month at a stretch under the hot Mumbai summer just to get the bronze look.

Reveals the source, “Shahid has literally soaked himself in the hot afternoon sun for that look. He is sporting a different hairstyle too. That apart, Shahid had gone in for functional training to have a different look for his body too. This whole exercise is aimed at keeping Shahid’s look away from the public eye.”

Though Shahid’s look in Kameenay is supposedly a well-guarded secret, here’s a peep into how this actor has undergone a make-over to change his chocolate boy image to a more serious, masculine guy.

Shahid’s scar-red look
- Apparently Vishal Bharatwaj is a regular at Shiva’s hair designers’ private limited salon and he requested his hair-dresser to help him out with Shahid’s look for an action sequence in the movie. Hair dresser E Ram Babu, who went to Inter Continental hotel from the salon, where the action scene was being shot, says, “The base colour of Shahid’s hair was copper and there were golden highlights (streaks) on them. The hair was of shoulder length. He had a French beard but the sides of the face that were supposed to be clean shaven.”

- This apart, for the action scene, he needed to get a scar on his face. The hair-dresser says, “I used a scissor and a blade to shave a little hair off Shahid’s right eyebrow to make it look like he got a scar that was caused by a sword.”

s_banerjee@dnaindia.net