The Inspiration Behind the Bold Cover
Pooja Bhatt is taking a trip down memory lane, and she’s clearing the air about that one photoshoot that had everyone talking in the 90s. In a recent chat, the actor-filmmaker opened up about her now-iconic body-paint magazine cover, explaining that it was never meant to stir up controversy.
The idea came from journalist Dinesh Raheja and photographer Jagdish Mali, who showed her a copy of Vanity Fair featuring Demi Moore’s famous nude cover. “I thought it was stunning. Demi Moore looked glorious,” Pooja recalled. They asked if she’d be up for a similar concept, and she didn’t think twice. “I said, ‘Sure.’”
The Shoot and the Aftermath
The shoot happened after a long day on set for the song ‘Tere Dar Par Sanam’ from Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayee. “I finished work around 9.30 pm and then went to Jagdish Mali’s house. They painted me and we did the shoot. After that, I completely forgot about it,” she said. But when the magazine hit the stands, all hell broke loose.
However, the controversy was soon overshadowed by a real tragedy—the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts. “Naturally, people had far more important things to worry about than a woman who had chosen to paint her body,” Pooja noted. She also addressed a long-standing misconception: she wasn’t actually nude. “I was not naked in the photograph. In Demi Moore’s case, the cover referred to a ‘birthday suit’, which meant she was naked underneath the paint. I was not. I was wearing underwear because we knew exactly where the line was and we chose not to cross it.”
Why the Image Still Resonates
Pooja admitted she’s surprised the image still gets discussed decades later. “Very recently, it was brought up again and people started calling it a cult image. But you can’t create something like that by design. I was simply being my authentic self.” She added, “The problem is that we are living in a world full of lies, so truth itself has become controversial today.”
The photoshoot, done for Movie magazine, featured body painting by designer Anna Singh and was captured by the late photographer Jagdish Mali. For Pooja, it was never about shock value—just her being her. And honestly? That’s the most iconic thing about it.