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Shilpa Shetty: 'My spiritual approach to finance'

The Bollywood actress on handbags and the causes of the credit crisis.

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, 33, found herself at the centre of a controversy last year after racist comments made by some contestants on Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother. Here she tells Mark Anstead about taking a spiritual approach to finance.

Are you cautious with money or liberal with it?

I'm a bit of a shopaholic. I've been working in the Bollywood film industry since I was 17 and I have always been financially independent, but I think I would be useless looking after my own money. I live with my parents in Bombay and my financial affairs are taken care of by my father.

He knows exactly where to invest and I have unconditional faith in the decisions he takes. If it were left up to me I would squander it, but I like to think I'm not too bad. I like to treat myself, but I know where to draw the line. I'm happy to spend on nice things, for example, but I don't splurge unreasonably on things I don't need.

Really? So do you only own as many handbags as you need?

Oh no! (Laughs.) That's a very mean question! I'm presented with a lot of perks so some of my handbags were gifts. I'm in love with Louis Vuitton, but I also have a Birkin and I'll admit that was very expensive. I had to pay a premium because they are not easily available and it ended up costing about 5,500, but there are bags and there are bags. I wouldn't buy an expensive diamond encrusted handbag, for example, or one made of crocodile skin. I know where to draw the line.

Does your father basically control your money and let you have an allowance?

No, I'm not that bad. I know exactly what's coming in and I know how much I've made at the end of the tax year. When I need money I only have to ask, or usually just spend it on my credit cards.

No, what I mean by my father being in control is that he invests it for me in my name and he tells me where he is putting it. It's all very transparent – he has invested in mutual funds and in property and he uses an investment consultant, the same one who advises the whole of my family.

I do the shopping and I let my dad handle the rest. I talk to him every day because we live in the same house. He knows when people need to be paid and he pays my staff and we've got the whole thing working on autopilot. He puts cheques to sign in front of me and I can see where each one is going, so there's no reason to discuss it unless he wants to make a new investment, and then he will come and tell me what he is doing differently.

Do you know how well your investments are performing?

I don't follow it too closely, but my father hasn't had to tell me I'm losing money. In Bombay property prices haven't dropped by too much. They say even if you invest in a hole over here the price will still go up. Bombay is one of those places – it's considered the third most expensive location in the world.

I am sure the value of some of my funds must have gone down, but I also know my father sold some earlier in the year so we have missed the biggest drop. I trust he knows when to put the cash back in.

Does he use high interest bank accounts?

Yes, I know he holds some of my money on deposit. I'm not particularly worried about what's been happening with the banks lately because I feel I'm only with good ones. Some of my accounts are with HSBC, for example, and they seem safe enough.

I know you believe strongly in fate. Do you think the current market difficulties are happening for a reason?

That's a very interesting question. First of all, from a spiritual perspective I don't think anyone needs to be apologetic about being successful or having money. The more successful you are, the more job opportunities you create for other people.

But I have high personal values and I will not compromise or do anything I'm uncomfortable with just to make money. Some people play dirty and if you do that it will have repercussions. If you keep a clean heart with your money you will have a clean karmic cycle, but the day you do something negative to another person that karmic circle will start to bring you down.

I belong to a movement called the Oneness University who expect things in the financial environment to get worse before 2012. It's very logical – the world is overpopulated and we suffer things like global warming and poverty as a result. The only way to achieve balance is to let nature take its course through natural calamities.

The financial crisis is a kind of natural calamity in the economic system and its purpose is to restore balance.

What is your recipe for success?

I think it's important to be satisfied with our lives. If you're unhappy at home it will affect you in your workplace and that will affect how successful you are. We need to strike a better home/work balance.

If you're just running after money all the time, it will make you unhappy and bad things may have to happen to wake you up from your false dreams. I believe there are many people in the West who are always inundated with work and forget to have a life. In a way, for them, this financial downturn can be their wake-up call.

I visualise what I want through meditation. The process of meditating is a great way of making sure I have my priorities sorted. It's not about money – I focus on my career and the kind of film projects I want to do. Film-making is a passion for me and my mantra is that you should do what you love and the money will follow.

How did your childhood experience influence your attitude to money?

I was brought up in a middle-class household and I saw my parents working hard, which made me value money. I watched them grow their own business selling tamper-free bottle tops to the pharmaceutical industry and they came up in life the hard way. My sister and I always had whatever we needed, but we weren't spoiled. I grew up to believe money is a necessity, but it is not everything.

What do you hate about dealing with money?

I've seen a lot of relationships fall apart over money. I have had my fair share of people trying to take advantage of me for what they thought they could gain. For example, I had to pay a 5,000 introduction fee to the person who mediated with Channel 4 for me so that I went on Big Brother.

It was fine by me, but nobody expected me to win and when I came out of the house I discovered the person concerned had been telling everyone she was my booking agent. And the person who introduced me to her was also doing interviews in India explaining how he got me into Big Brother. It was a mess.

Does your spiritual perspective inform how you will you separate responsibility for finance when you get married?

Luckily, I have a boyfriend, Raj Kundra, who is an entrepreneur in London and doing extremely well for himself. We've already gone into a business venture together – we have opened a spa in Bombay and we have plans for more all over India.

We are not married and we have a very clear demarcation: my share comes to me and is invested by my parents and his share goes to him. But I am convinced I have found my soul mate and when we marry I am sure we will throw everything together.

My mum and dad have a joint bank account and Raj is the kind of person who likes to do everything together anyway. What's the use of having all the money in the world if you don't trust the person you are with?

What's been your best buy?

From an emotional point of view, I'd say a Chopard watch I bought eight years ago. At that point it was the most expensive thing I had ever bought for myself – it was 6,000 – but I still have it because it was the first symbol of success that I allowed myself to buy.

From the perspective of a good investment, I'd say my home in Bombay, which I bought 10 years ago with my parents. We have six bedrooms across a two-storey apartment and the value has definitely gone up at least three times since we bought it.

Do you have many credit cards?

I have four or five. I'm constantly using my American Express and my HSBC ones and in India I only need those two. But when I'm abroad I need two or three others as well because everything I buy is more expensive and I need more cards to soak up a larger credit limit.

I'm getting a Centurion card very soon and then I won't have to worry about any limits. All my cards get paid off at the end of the month – my father handles that.

What about a pension?

I think all my investments are a kind of pension because they are all for my future, but I don't invest in any other way to take advantage of any tax breaks.

 

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Today is last day, so let's make the most of it 😆😆

 

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Donot like Congress and Sonia but Mrs Indira had a personality that no one can deny.