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High there

Tall claims: Aishwarya Rai with Bobby Deol

Till recently, if you're tall and pretty, you may become a beauty queen, a fashion model or maybe an airhostess. But you could hardly hope for a job in Bollywood.

Flip through the interview of Dev Anand's Prem Pujari heroine Zaheeda, in the latest Cine Blitz. She recalls the hilarious times on the sets of Anokhi Raat when she, then a modern young miss who loved high heels and huge bouffant, had to be literally cut to size by costar Sanjeev Kumar.

"Don't wear high heels... Okay, at least don't pile that hair so high up on your head. Flatten your hair. You look too tall," the actor told her. She didn't remain long in the industry.

Heroines like Nutan, an ex-beauty queen, who dared to stand a little taller than the standard 5'2" had to perfect the art of wearing flat hair styles and flatter slippers while cameramen fine-tuned their technique to present the hero as standing taller than his towering heroine.

Tall dolls
Sushmita Sen Pooja Batra Tabu Sonali Bendre Shilpa Shetty Aishwarya Rai Sridevi Rekha Raveena Tandon Madhuri Dixit Juhi Chawla Kajol Mamta Kulkarni Karisma Kapoor Urmila Matondkar Twinkle Khanna	5'9.5" 5'9" 5'8" 5'8" 5'8" 5'7.5" 5'7" 5'7" 5'7" 5'5" 5'5" 5'5" 5'5" 5'5" 5'4" 5'4"

In this scenario, fashion models and beauty queens who averaged 5'4" and above never had a chance, being relegated to playing vamp or dancer.

Girls with long limbs like Faryal or Persis Khumbatta couldn't ever hope to become a heroine. Sure, talent mattered too, and fashion models were by and large wanting. But a leggy exception strode in one day and shattered long- cosetted myths. The woman was then Miss Asia Zeenat Aman.

Could Zeenat emote? No. Was she earthy, wholesome, desi? No. Was she a terrific dancer? No. Added to all this, Zeenat measured 5'8". But she remained a saleable heroine.

The Hindi film industry did have its Rekhas and Hema Malinis who were dangerously tall then at 5'7". But here was a completely westernised beauty queen who couldn't act to save her life, tall enough to dwarf all her heroes, who yet could be a major star.

Sonali Bendre

"I wasn't just tall, I was the tallest," remembers Zeenat, who retired to marry Mazhar Khan and have two kids. While Zeenat's height and figure might have had drooling elsewhere in the world, in the Hindi film industry, "one got used to hearing comments like 'She's too tall and she's too thin'," laughs Zeenat.

If Zeenat managed not to offend her heroes (Rajesh Khanna, Sanjeev Kumar, Jeetendra, Shashi Kapoor), it was because she "wore flats 90 per cent of the time". Only a rare Amitabh (6'2"), Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha (both 6'1") could stand tall next to Zeenat and not feel dwarfed. But even they wouldn't hear of her in four-inch heels, which would automatically bring her up to their eye level.

And so, the tallest heroine of the eighties had diaries full of anecdotes about heroes who were propped up to look taller. "The one and only scene I had with Rishi Kapoor in my career was so funny, I don't think I'll ever forget it, nor will he," chuckles Zeenat.

The scene in Hum Kissie Se Kum Nahin required Rishi (aka Chintu) to sit on the same sofa as Zeenat. "It was so funny. He had to be literally propped up with two cushions under him so that he'd look taller." Quite an effort, since Rishi is 5'7".

But Rishi, and Rajesh Khanna -- the shorties of their respective generations -- always did have a particularly rough with their heroines.

Rishi distinctly felt the difference in stature during a photoshoot with Sridevi for the cover of Star & Style many years ago.

Karishma Kapoor

Sridevi had turned up in a flowing, white dress and three-inch heels. On spotting the look of dismay on Chintu's face, Sri loudly whispered, "Sorry," and embarrassed him further by making a big show of kicking off her shoes before sitting on the steps. Predictably, the photographers had composed shots of Rishi sitting a step higher than Sri just to make him sit tall.

If Rishi had a trying time with Sri who was just about his height, imagine his plight when he found Tabu opposite him in Pehla Pehla Pyar. Tabu is 5'8" but she never takes advantage of her height. "Poor Tabu is so conscious of her height that she sort of crumples into herself and never poses standing proudly erect," observes dress designer Simple Kapadia who has been doing all of Tabu's costumes since Darmiyaan.

"She seems even taller because she's slim and very long-limbed. So we give her only flats in all her films. Flats are fine when she's playing a gaon ki chhori (as in Virasat) or someone in sarees. Then you don't notice the bare feet. But flats with western outfits look horrible!"