SONAM KAPOOR AHUJA
Sonam is settling into her looks for the day in the comfort of her suite, in a suburban five star. Her hair falls in regulated Maggi noodle-style waves. An iron curler is hard at work, manufacturing more such waves across a lightly truncated length of hair. “I have never had such short hair,” she rues, to Jatin Kampani, our photographer, who hopes to convince her to try a hairstyle that works for the first shot. “I had to cut my hair, because a perm damaged a lot of it,” she says, a hint of trauma apparent in her voice. Still, her hair does cascade below the shoulders, and with the measured curls we see, this length actually flatters her. Also, if anyone can reinvent her look with consummate ease, even in a hair-raising crisis, it is Sonam K Ahuja.
As we stand around, her devoted teammates listen attentively as she chats with Jatin on how she doesn’t want the OTT posing, OTT body language, the usual unapproachable hauteur of high fashion. “I have done that too many times, Jatin, just too many shoots of late,” she explains, albeit firmly. “Let’s get a more real feel into the photos. I want to be normal in my shots, like sit the way I would in my everyday jeans, tees etc. It should look like I am wearing the clothes, not that they are wearing me.”
There is this confidence in Sonam K Ahuja today, a full circle from the first-ever shoot HELLO! India ever did with her, when she was about to debut in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s . Back then, in 2008, Sonam would check the monitor
