Not weighty enough

Rujuta Diwekar's book on how to lose weight tries to ride on her most famous client: actress Kareena Kapoor.

At no other time in human history have people been as obsessed about losing weight as in the last few years or so. As food has become more easily available, the paranoia of weight gain has increased proportionately.

This has led to dieticians, nutritionists and often quacks becoming mini-celebrities for their take on how to lose weight. Rujuta Diwekar is the latest “dietician” who has became famous for helping actress Kareena Kapoor lose significant amounts of weight for the film Tashan. Diwekar, buoyed by her new-found fame, has tried to cash in on it by writing a “quickie” book titled Don’t Lose Your Mind. Lose Your Weight.

The book’s flaws are so glaring from page one onward that one hopes that Diwekar’s diets aren’t as flawed. The book is full of anecdotal evidence told so shoddily that even if you are genuinely interested in what Diwekar has to say, the poorly written prose is enough to put you off. For instance, on page 33, Lolo, Kareena’s older sister, actress Karisma says, “Shit ya!!” And then on the next page a sentence reads: “Karisma confessed that she was dabaoing the chips...” Dabaoing is a word that Diwekar is excessively fond of and uses again and again. Writing a book on a film star’s diet isn’t a good enough excuse to write as inadequately, and using such tired language, as the two instances given above illustrate.

If the book uses language fit only for dimwits, her explanation for why her advice on losing weight is better than all the “wisdom” that is already out there is equally flimsy, using some deft name-dropping to convince the reader of the veracity of her claims. Americans who have been at this weight-loss game for much longer try at least to support what they claim with some proof and not keep mentioning a couple of clients as endorsement.

The world of weight-loss and dieting is already being seen as some sort of a scam where the only gainers are those selling these diets. Diwekar, as seen through this book, also falls in that category. And using Kapoor as some sort of testament is in fact the weakest link. Kapoor herself, in recent interviews, is claiming to be now a more “healthy” weight than she was in the near past. Go figure.