Varun Dhawan, Vikrant Massey, Yami Gautam, Richa Chadha: Bollywood expecting!

Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan with their older son, Taimur. (Image via Instagram)

The stork is working overtime in Bollywood! After Richa Chadha, Varun Dhawan and Yami Gautam hinted at the patter of tiny feet soon, some have suggested Deepika Padukone might join the ensemble soon, too! When two stars come together to multiply – like Deepika and Ranveer Singh – it can only spell mass hysteria.

There is something about celebrity sperm and ovum. When they meet, the aam admi goes berserk, flashbulbs go off. The mere hint of a bump sets people off. Indeed, many a time sheepish stars say, oops, food baby, nothing to see here! We spend nerve-wracking months of ‘are the rumours true?’ But when confirmation of the good news comes directly from the happy couple, everyone feels it time to dance in the streets.

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And of late too many actors have been in the family way. Apart from Alia Bhatt, the sighting of whose baby Raha sent fans into a frenzy, Anushka Sharma just had her second child, a son called Akaay. Every baby name is awaited with bated breath – sending us scurrying for meanings and etymology. Karishma Kapoor’s Kiaan and Shilpa Shetty’s Viaan, and now Akaay... Move over Taimur and Jeh, there are newer babies going waaah.

Deepika, who has just jetted back glamorously from the 77th BAFTA Film Awards in London where she was draped in a sequined Sabyasachi sari as the golden girl of Indian cinema, is reportedly all set to glamourize mommyhood. We will be watching her wardrobe with unusual alertness – and copying it too despite not being enceinte.

Varun Dhawan announced impending fatherhood by uploading pics with wife Natasha Dalal. The photoshoot has them in soft focus black and white, with him gently kissing her belly, and their dog looking on, against sheer curtains and plants. As for Yami Gautam, it was only this month, during the trailer launch of her film Article 370 that she said she was five and a half months pregnant. The birth of Anushka’s baby boy definitely caught the paparazzi napping! No one knew until after the baby came.

Once upon a time, male actors could get married and expand their brood anytime they wanted but female actors had to think twice. They had to worry about losing their little-girl appeal and the desired virginal image when it came to their audiences. By and by, thankfully, it became common to see actresses falling in love, dating and setting up home with who they like. After marriage of their heroines was reluctantly accepted by the desi masses, the next taboo was motherhood. Many actresses chose to stay away from the limelight after a baby or two, returning to stardom once the kids grew up, like Madhuri Dixit and Sridevi.

In a total reversal of the previously rabid interest in star pregnancies, we now know only if told! When Ileana D’Cruz had Koa Phoenix Dolan last August, most of us were privy to this only afterwards. Like Kareena Kapoor Khan and Alia Bhatt, most actresses today just go on to tie a nappy and face the camera. Maternity is no bar to being a hot star.