Instant gratification: Shilpa Shetty and (above) Celina Jaitley

Ask Rekha whether a workout and diet is all that she needs to look 30 at 50-plus and brace yourself for a look that makes hell freeze over.

Gape at Celina Jaitley’s gorgeous body — sculpted almost overnight, they say — but don’t dare ask her how.

Shocked by the difference in makeover ma’m Shilpa Shetty, from Baazigar to Dhadkan?

But then, that’s just the way it is in the world of showbiz, where only cosmetic surgeons sharpen their knives more than the critics.

Cosmetic surgery is something few Bollywood belles can do without, but no one talks about. Yet, there’s no escaping the best-kept secret in showbiz — it shows, you see!

Not far behind in the race to ‘reform’ is the Tollywood star brigade, both young and old, which thinks a surgery or two is the best way to look good and feel great.

Dropping in surreptitiously at 12 Loudon Street, when regular patients are not around, is something of a habit for several city celebrities between 18 and 80. If an upcoming model is worried about that tyre of flab around her tummy, an ageing actress is losing sleep over her sagging face muscles. If one starlet is desperate to fix her pug nose, another is bothered sick about her bust size.

The body basic has problems aplenty, and now there is a mad scramble for look-good solutions. “The elderly group goes for a facelift (which firms up the loose skin). The younger lot opts for liposuction (removal of excess fat from various parts of the body), nose jobs, tummy-tucks (knocking off fat from the abdomen), scar revision and breast enlargement. Hair transplant is common among men,” says cosmetic surgeon Manoj Khanna, busy in his third-floor chamber with a high-profile — and hush hush — clientele of models, film and TV stars, politicians and even sports personalities.

The quick fix is literally that — the surgeries are over in a couple of hours and the star patients are ready to be back in the limelight in a week or so.

“People from the glamour world want to either maintain or enhance their looks. Ageing film stars specially go for facelifts, which give their sagging careers a boost,” explains Khanna, who feels the trend of enhancing looks through surgery started in early 2000, with the “beauty pageants and the media” having made people more conscious of their looks.

“Some of my friends who were models in Calcutta and are now into films in Mumbai have gone for everything that could be done — from liposuction to silicone implant, tummy-tuck to mending the nose and even teeth,” says model Pinky, who swears by her “natural looks” and a mix of diet and exercise to keep in shape. “Most girls get flab knocked off from the hips, waist, stomach and thighs. Some have even gone for a lip job to get a pout. The number of models going for cosmetic surgery is rising fast in the city. It does help in getting more work,” she adds.

The small screen, too, lays down a strict body line these days. “A lot of young actresses are opting for liposuction, too, or mending the flaws in their faces. This helps them in the workplace,” admits actress Koneenica Banerjee. “I might go for it myself if I need a particular kind of look in a film someday,” she adds, though a diet-gym routine is what she sticks to now.

A proper balance of diet and exercise is also what Khanna advocates (“it’s the best way to reduce weight”), but people in the glamour world have different reasons altogether. “They don’t have all that time to spend. Besides, if fat gets stuck in some part of your body, surgery is the only way out,” he adds.