Bipasha Basu Singh Grover admits to being ‘paranoid’, especially about her parents, amid the increase in Coronavirus cases in India. The actor says she keeps tabs on everything they do, as any concerned daughter would, and ensures that they are safe.

Bipasha also makes sure that the staff caring for her parents follow all protocols, and maintain hygiene. “I am very particular about what my parents do, where and how they go. For a long time, they didn’t travel, so when everything felt better (last year), with all possible protocols in place, I took them to the Maldives. Then my father flew to Kolkata. I was very paranoid and wanted him to come back to Mumbai, and thankfully he reached just before this new wave,” says the actor, who turns 43 today.

Bipasha will be celebrating the day with her parents and husband, actor Karan Singh Grover, and says it is one of the most special days of her life. She gushes, “I am very excited about my birthdays each year, no matter how old I am getting. I am as excited as I was in childhood.”

Bipasha adds, “I had a lot of plans for this year… I was supposed to go to the Maldives, it is Karan’s and my favourite place. A lot of plans were there, but owing to this third wave that has come in, we are trying to be responsible and stay put at home, doing our bit to contain the wave.”

Talking further about her plans for the day, the Alone (2015) actor says, “There will be no party as such; it will be very simple, with my mum and dad and food. I am a foodie. All my favourite specialties will be made by my mum. I will miss all my friends and my birthday holiday, which I love.”

The actor adds that “this will be the second year in a row” that she hasn’t “celebrated her birthday” in a big way. She shares, “Last year, Karan got Covid-19 and was stuck in Serbia. Our plans for the New Year’s and my birthday got cancelled. I am grateful that this year my entire family is healthy and all are happy.”

We're still on our honeymoon - that's what one of the signs on the table of a restaurant on the Gold Coast where Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover were seated, read. The 'Aussie Monkeys' who tied the knot on April 28, 2016, took off to Sydney to ring in New Year and bring in Bipasha's 38th birthday on Saturday night. “I'm catching up with my friend Hemang who is married and settled in Australia with an adorable baby,“ gushed the birthday girl who also shared a video of Ayan and Ishaan, sons of her US-based friend Suzanne Dadhich, singing, “It's your birthday, let's pardaay (sic),“ on the same day. She admitted that her birthday is extremely special to her because she loves celebrating the day she was given this gift of life.

The couple visited the quaint town of Leura which boasts of the 'Blue Mountains' and spent time at Watsons Bay. On Sunday they were at Sydney's Sea World and while asserting that she's not a compulsive shopper, Bipasha admitted that she loves sunglasses and her hubby has bought her a cool pair of glares, as always.

The duo is known for their perfect beach bods and healthy lifestyle but till the next weekend, it's binge time. “I'm a foodie and the seafood here is amazing. We try something new every day and I've lost track of any diet,“ she says, adding that she plans to get back to work once she's back. “I'm in a very happy personal space and now it's time to focus on the professional front. I've worked for 15 years and fulfilled all my responsibilities, so, I'm allowed to let go for a bit and have fun, right?“ she quips.

Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover have a lot in common, be it their love for food, fitness or beautiful bodies. In a tête-àtête, the lead pair of Alone talks about all things close to their heart. Excerpts:

You've always called yourself a big foodie and yet, you have developed the image of this fitness icon. How do you maintain a balance?
Bipasha: The fact that I eat is a good thing, which is why I have it in my head that I also have to work out to maintain myself. It's very important and I know that if you have to eat, you also have to look after your health. So, I make sure that I don't miss out on either side, which is why this balance in life is very important.
Karan: I work out a lot and I eat a lot.
Bipasha: Oh yes, his metabolism is amazing. Men are more gifted than women, they burn calories so fast.
Karan: Men are not gifted.
Bipasha: Okay, maybe not men, but you, with your metabolism, yes.
Karan: Women are the ones with all the gifts.
Bipasha: Well, in the bigger picture, yes. Women win hands down.
Karan: What are we gonna do with high BMR? That's all we get, high BMR.
Bipasha: But yeah, high BMR is good na. I would love high BMR.

We saw Bipasha's birthday pictures on Instagram, which had lots of food, biryani, cakes, everything.
Bipasha: Everyone knows I am a foodie and that I love biryani. So on my birthday, everyone sent me these tubs of biryani.
Karan: Oh, your birthday biryani! Tubs is an understatement. You can call them ponds of biryani. You basically had to dive in the food and then later, figure out, whether it's chicken, mutton or what.
Bipasha: He looked at the food and said that it was food for 300 people.
Karan: You could feed a country with her birthday food.
Bipasha: There was so much food, cakes galore, red velvet, ladoos, gajar ka halwa, everything that I love. And because I like gajar ka halwa, everyone makes it and sends it to me. So I was like, now which one to eat? My mum's gajar ka halwa is very, very precious to me. Now, on one hand I am telling myself that my birthday is over and I should control, but still, every day I eat little little of my mum's gajar ka halwa.

So what happens the day after a feast like that in the gym?
Bipasha: Well, I'm in a comatose. I've named myself zomatose, a mix of zombie and comatose. I realised why everyone's so slow after having rice. Every motion of my body was slow. I did go to the gym, but it wasn't very effective gymming. It was quite funny.

You're practically like experts on fitness. And it's not the layman's knowledge, it's not like, 'Oh hum gym jaayenge aur calories burn karenge.' You know exactly what to do right...
Bipasha: Well ya, over the years, you keep on trying new things and also, you see how your body reacts to all of that. And the way your body reacts also changes with time, the discipline you put into it, your age. Especially in women, the hormones can make you go crazy. Sometimes it's also a waste, you're doing a kind of exercise everyday, but your body is not showing any effect of it. So that's the time you realise that you've peaked and hit saturation and you need to try something new.

But the general perception is that celebrities hai kuch khaate nahi honge ya there must be cosmetic surgery involved. They don't realise that you guys know almost as much as doctors do, about your bodies.
Karan: Well, not with this generation, where everyone knows everything.
Bipasha: People are much more intelligent, yes. But for celebrities, people still assume that. They get shocked when they see us eat. And we eat a lot. You know, if I order a chicken sandwich in any part of the country, I get some thing that you just can't eat. It's just bread and a few pieces of chicken and at the max, some egg. They don't put anything in it assuming that I must be some crazy health freak who must not eat anything. So I tell them to not say it's for me, tab acha sandwich aata hai.


When did you first get your tattoos and what do they signify?

Bipasha: Tell us about all your tattoos. Even I don't know this.
Karan: Well, I got my first tat too on my right arm which is a dragon when I was 21. I went and asked my parents if I could get a tattoo done and they said no. So I got it anyways. At that time, I didn't put any thought into it, so I just got a dragon. Now I just lie to anyone who asks that my mother's born in the year of the dragon. I realised that much later when I was sitting at a Chinese restaurant and they had this year thing written down. So I was like, oh, my mother's born in the year of the dragon and I have a dragon tattoo. So that makes sense. The next one is on the left arm, which is an aboriginal design, which has a crucifix in it. The left shoulder has the symbol of the seven archangels. Then another one on my right arm, which says 'peace, love, happiness and success,' in Mandarin letters.Then there's another one on the same right arm, which was the most painful. I could hear the needle sound in my brain.The latest is a birthday gift to myself. It's my self-proclaimed designation, superstar, on my left leg. And then one that is across both wrists, that says, Anything but ordinary.' For me, my body is my canvas. I can do whatever I want with it. And I like tattoos. If something means a lot to me, I like the fact that I can get it written on me or painted on me.
Bipasha: My younger sister is exactly like him. My mother would never let her get any, so she would hide and get them done. The first time she impressed my mother was when she got a mandala in which she added the initials of all five family member names in Bengali alphabets. Now she's going to gift a tattoo to my mother. So my mother's turned around, from a person who was against tattoos completely to someone who's going to get a tattoo.
Karan: My dad also keeps telling me, 'when I'll have arms like yours, I'll get a tattoo done.' And I tell him that's never going to happen. Anyone who doesn't have a tattoo won't understand it.
Bipasha: That's true. You have to love it. I would die even if I had to get even one dot. I would never get anything done on my body. I love my body too much. I feel that you can't paint the Taj Mahal.
Karan: Waah!
Bipasha: Yeh churaayi hui line hai. Suna tha kahin (laughing)
Karan: I have graffiti on my Taj Mahal.
Bipasha: Ya, these are our personal Taj Mahals and we can do whatever we want to do with them. Personally, I am afraid of pain and secondly, I love human skin. I would like tattoos on people but not like people who're covered from head to toe. In fact, we love bodies. That's one thing we bond on. Fitness, new kind of training and good bodies. We love beautiful bodies, bodies not like dead bodies. So I like seeing a tan on a person, their natural skin. In the movie, initially, they wanted his tattoos to be hidden. Then when they took off his clothes, they were like how to hide so many tattoos. They said humara bahut paisa chala jaayega special effects mein to clean all of these.
Karan: Listen, I have done a show where, with all these tattoos, I had bare bodied scenes and everything was covered with makeup.
Bipasha: Ab itna time nahi tha ki tumhaare saare tattoos pe makeup lage. All your makeup would be on me.
Karan: That's there. I convinced them ki tattoos rehne do. Makeup karoge to I'll pick up Leo (their dog in the film) toh uspe lagega, Bipasha pe lagega. We'll waste so much time, so then Bhushan sir agreed ki let it be.