Is sexy the new beautiful? 'People praising ASH'

Mumbai: Recently, the country suffered the loss of two iconic beauties, Maharani Gayatridevi and Leela Naidu. While Naidu was known for her chiseled features, Gayatridevi scored because of her stunning features too.

Six decades later, would these ladies be still considered as beautiful in today's scenario, just on the basis of the naturally beautiful face that they were blessed with? Or has the concept of beauty changed drastically over the years, that they would have lost the race to somebody who might not have been blessed with as beautiful a face, but a stunning body to compensate?

Geeta Rao, beauty and health director, Vogue India, says that could be possible. She says, "It is the complete package that makes for beauty now. In earlier days a beautiful face was enough. Leela Naidu would be a stunning beauty even today, because of her features. However, now the entire personality is looked into, a toned body and the attitude of the person." But Rao insists that a stunningly beautiful face is still an asset.

"Take Aishwarya Rai. Whether you like it or not, she is still one of the most beautiful women, even though there are many around her with terrifically fab bodies. So, it's the overall holistic look that still sustains."

Fitness expert Dianne Pandey, however, rues the fact that the innocence of beauty is sorely missing in the beauties of today. "They might be considered beautiful because of their taut bodies and near perfect features. But how much of it is natural? Look closely, and there is that hardness, which is so not beautiful." Ask her who she would still consider beautiful, she promptly mentions Aishwarya's name. "A truly beautiful woman and a lot of it is natural too."

Veteran beauty specialist Jamuna Pai says beauty has become far more aggressive, and very difficult to categorise. "You can buy everything from pouting lips to a dimpled cheek. How is anybody to know who is a true beauty? Except the height, everything else can be altered and people have gone to the extent of becoming unrecognisable with the changes that they have made. When they said Gayatri Devi was beautiful, it was believable, because she was blessed with natural beauty. How do I accept that from women today, when I don't know how much of it is acquired through money? I see people going wild to look perfect.I would vote for Aishwarya Rai as the most beautiful as she is natural," she says.

Mickey Contractor, make up expert, who has been giving finishing touches to beauties for almost three decades now, votes for Aishwarya Rai as well, "I know for fact is she has always been this beautiful. And even a Hema Malini. Someone with a great body can be considered hot or sexy but not beautiful. These are essentially beautiful women, born with stunning features.

A beautiful face will always be cherished, with a great body or not." Sathya Saran, the editor of ME, who has groomed and discovered many beauties, says, it always has been the entire look that counted. "The person should not look as if she is killing herself to look the way she does. Beauty also spells confidence, and self esteem and inner beauty comes from certain calmness and kind eyes," she says.