Shilpa Shetty says business runs in her blood. The actor chatted with Karan Bhardwaj about her big plans for yoga, spa and gold-related ventures
In the last few years, Shilpa Shetty might be missing from limelight but the actor’s platter has been more than full. Back home, she is enjoying motherhood, her business ventures are expanding pretty fast. Production house, IPl’s team for Rajasthan, yoga DVDs, spa centres and now the latest addition, Satyug Gold. The actor was here with hubby Raj Kundra to talk more about the ventures. We never spotted her flaunting gold ornaments. “That’s not true! Sometimes I wear gold. In fact, all my diamond sets are studded with gold too. It can never go out of fashion,” she quipped. While she is the ambassador and the creative mind of the project, Kundra is maneuvering all the business deals. “He has always dealt with precious metals. In life, I have seen how people save huge amount of money to buy gold stuff. It is gifted as a mark of prosperity in weddings. We are offering discounts of up to 37 per cent on the purchase of gold bars and coins for those who are willing to pay the entire amount in advance and wait for two to five years to take delivery,” she explained.
Shilpa’s schedule, though packed, runs according to her son Viaan. She does all the meetings and talking when he is sleeping. He tours with her across the globe. “I haven’t taken a single off from my duty for two years now. As a human being, I also deserve some rest but I have been on my toes. But I am enjoying being a mother,” she says.
When are we going to see back on screenIJ “Even without acting in films, I am keeping superbly busy. Acting doesn’t fit into scheme of things at present. As an actor, life becomes erratic. There are long hours and international shooting schedules. So I am waiting for Viaan to grow more. I want to reach a stage where he could start bearing my temporary absence. So there’s no scope for a year or two,” she says.
Shilpa says being Shetty, business runs in her blood. She was studying commerce before foraying into cinema, “My father was into the manufacturing of medicine bottles. I have closely observed business. In days to come, my yoga and ayurveda products will be available in market. We are also increasing the number of spas countrywide,” she informed.
Her maiden film as a producer, Dishkiyaaoon, bombed at the box office but Shilpa says she has learnt her lessons. “Every decision teaches you a lesson. Dishkiyaaoon was an experiment for us. So it was not a big-budgeted film. The lesson that I have learnt is that you cannot think with heart in this industry. I made the film because I was fond of Harman Baweja. But I don’t think he was the reason for failure. Somewhere we lacked the entertainment factor. So we couldn’t impress audience,” she reasoned.
A lot has been written about her international movie The Desire-Journey of a Woman but it hasn’t seen the light of the day. “My mother took over the project from the international producers. But she hasn’t found the distributors. I have already shot the film and as we get the exhibitors, we will release it,” she told us.