Purrfect passion -- Bal `apes' Beri's animal instincts

Purrfect passion -- Bal `apes' Beri's animal instincts
KANIKA GAHLAUT

NEW DELHI, JULY 4: It seems to be a year of celebrities going wild. Earlier in the year, the internationally aggressive People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals made their presence felt in the country by getting models John Abraham and Aditi Gowitriker to do a You-Tarzan-Me-Jane act by putting them before the shutterbugs dressed in nothing but cabbage leaves that threatened to wilt under the harsh light of the cameras. Though nobody has yet taken their kit off fully for the cause (a la Kim Bassinger) now, Rohit Bal, the designer who's always been a bit on the wild side, has made things official with the declaration Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe (with no apologies, we have noted, to original Junglee Shammi Kapoor).

His animal instincts come to fore in aid of Maneka Gandhi's People For Animals, which seems to have taken the lead from PETA which is supported by the likes of Pamela Anderson and Paul McCartney by getting celebrities to endorse the cause. First Dimple Kapadia brought her candles to the city, followed by a giggling Juhi Chawla who launched their website (the first choice, we are told, was Hritik Roshan, who refused to oblige).

And though a Delhi designer has been used by PFA before Ritu Beri designed their t-shirts a couple of years ago this is certainly a first for Bal, an animal lover who has quite a few dogs at his farmhouse. Besides, he's a lot smarter with his messages than Ritu Beri was: his t-shirts priced at Rs 300 and on exhibit at the Taj Palace from July 7 have animal motifs displaying messages such as `I'm Purrfect' to the more innovative `I don't give a hoot', `All Bark No Bite', `Tough Ones Need Love Too', `Check out my Web-site' and `Bee What You Want to Be.'

But while the international PETA ensures that anyone associated with promoting the cause is vegetarian (as are models Gowitrikar and Abraham), Indian organisations aren't too particular, though they haven't gone so far as getting Salman Khan to say Save the Blackbuck. Dimple Kapadia says she loves animals but isn't exactly a vegetarian; ditto for Rohit Bal; and Juhi Chawla was carrying a leather bag when launching the website for PFA, which says a lot for her animal-sensitivity. But so long as the cause gets attention and the moolah comes in, who cares, right?