Shilpa Shetty’s long and luscious tresses may soon go. Buzz is that she will soon go the Shabana-Nandita way. The two actresses had $haved off their ha!r for Deepa Mehta’s Water. It’s another matter that ‘Water’ never got made with them. Shilpa Shetty will start shooting for her most challenging role in Malayalam director, R Sarath’s English language film ‘Desire’ this week. Apparently a part of the film requires her to $have off her ha!r.

When we check with Shilpa Shetty, she laughs and says, “I can’t reveal everything about my role. If I tell you everything now why would you watch the film? But yes, this is by far the most challenging role of my career. It takes me through ten turbulent years of my character’s life. It’s a very intense love story between me and my Chinese co-star, Xia Yu.”

Shilpa Shetty hasn’t met Xia Yu yet. “Our shooting starts this week in Kerala. Then we shoot in Kuala Lampur.” Apparently permission to shoot the film in China was denied.

What Shilpa Shetty really liked about the role is that it allowed her to learn Odissi. “I have been a Bharatnatyam dancer all my life. In ‘Desire’ I play an Odissi dancer, and I had to unlearn everything I knew about the classical dance and start from scratch. It has been quite a daunting experience.”