By SHEELA NARAYANAN

YOU know you're a star when women demand that you peel off your shirt or watch your movie - the same one - three times in a night.

Shahid Kapoor, 28, has had both happen to him.

Last week, the rising star of the Hindi movie business was shooting a beach scene in Thailand for his yet untitled new film when a group of female fans showed up and clamoured for him to take his vest off.

While Shah Rukh Khan would have had a witty comeback and Salman Khan would have possibly obliged, Shahid who recently went topless in Kaminey and showed off his gym-honed pectorals in Dil Bole Hadippa was embarrassed. So much so, he had to retreat to his vanity van till the fans were escorted away by the security guards.

As for that Shahid-movie marathon... it happened right here in Singapore. But the woman in question has threatened me with bodily harm if I reveal her identity. She did, however, follow up that warning with a gooey-eyed request for an autographed picture of Shahid. So much for her tough-gal image!

Incidents like these only prove that this dimple-cheeked and buff actor is indeed a superstar in the making, one that appeals to fans of all ages.

Student Jaspreet Kaur, 14, adores him for his boyish good looks and for his acting skills. "He looks natural on screen," she said. Another fan who drools over Shahid is 35-year-old tutor Sujata Krishnan, who thinks he can be the next Shah Rukh. "He is good looking, dances really well and has loads of charisma," she said.

This year has been good to him, with the movie gods sprinkling quite a bit of stardust on the young actor despite his position in Bollywood, sandwiched between the veteran stars like the Khans and youngsters like Ranbir Kapoor - very much the flavour of the month in Tinseltown right now - in the popularity and box-office stakes.

His films are doing well and he is getting critical acclaim as an actor, more so after Kaminey where he played morally diverse twins with different speech impediments (only in Bollywood).

Local film distributor Arun Pala of Jalan Distributors, who brings in Yash Raj movies, told tabla! that Dil Bole Hadippa made over $100,000 when it was released in four cinemas in Singapore.

Mr Pala said: "There are two people who are the forerunners to take over the Khans - that is Shahid and Ranbir. There is no one else."

Shahid's scoring in the looks department too, with those dimples and sweet smile weakening the knees that his chiselled body - lean and ripped compared to the over-muscled look of six years ago when he debuted in Ishq Vishq - can't conquer. And as far as his dancing skills are concerned, the verdict is that he is better than the 35-year-old Hrithik Roshan. Enough said.

In her blog on the Hindustan Times website, editor of its Sunday magazine Poonam Saxena declared Shahid to be one of the stars to take over the mantle of Bollywood megastars from the Khans - Shah Rukh and Aamir to be precise.

She wrote: "He's good-looking. He still looks very boyish but not as much as he did in his early films. You only have to watch Kaminey to see how different and "non-chocolate boy" he can appear.

"He's charismatic. He has an arresting screen presence and can hold a frame perfectly. If there's a tight close-up of his on the big screen (and there were many in Dil Bole Hadippa), you are compelled to keep looking at him. He's easily the best dancer in Mumbai - even better than Hrithik Roshan. And best of all, he can act. Jab We Met was an out-and-out Kareena film, but Shahid stood out with a fine performance. Dil Bole Hadippa is a total Rani Mukherji vehicle - the film was made to showcase her talent and looks to audiences all over again, but once again, Shahid held his own."

Other industry watchers seem to share that sentiment.

The Times Of India's Bollywood editor Meen Iyer said: "Shahid is one of the most promising actors on the block. With Vivaah and Jab We Met he established himself as a very good actor and a star. Now with Kaminey, he is in the A-league; he has age on his side and the fact that he is a super- duper dancer and competent actor makes him a good bet for a reigning Hindi film hero.

"This is the most exciting phase of Shahid's career. If he chooses his future assignments with care, he will always be in a comfortable position."

That's a far cry from his quiet entry into the business via tiny roles in music videos and advertisements. Having enrolled in the Shiamak Davar Institute of Performing Arts, his first screen presence was as a back-up dancer in the 1999 film Taal which starred Aishwarya Rai, Akshaye Khanna and Anil Kapoor.

The son of actors Pankaj Kapoor and Neelima Azeem, Shahid finally made his acting debut in 2003 with Ishq Vishq. The role, of a love sick college boy, got him three Best Male Debut awards: From Filmfare, Star Screen and the Indian International Film Academy Awards in Singapore in 2004.

This was followed by two movies in 2004, Fida and Dil Maange More. The first garnered him critical acclaim while the second flopped, which was the theme of his year at the box office in 2005. He did get some good mentions for Shikar, the first time he demonstrated that he was more than just dimples and muscles.

Things slowly took a turn for the better when he starred in the 2006 film with Kareena Kapoor - they dated for three years, more about that later - in 36 China Town which was followed by a Priyadarshan-helmed comedy, Chup Chup Ke, which did average business at the box office.

But it was his turn as the sensitive Prem in Vivah which earned him a nomination at most of the movie awards. His next hit was also with Kareena, Jab We Met in 2007, which saw the end of their three-year relationship.
Then came Kaminey, Vishal Bharadwaj's dark thriller about gangsters, rebel soldiers, rogue politicians and crooked cops which critics believe has propelled Shahid into the big league.

NDTV's consulting editor Anupama Chopra said: "This is the role - or roles - of a lifetime and Shahid, best known for innocuous chocolate-boy romances, sinks his teeth into it. Kaminey does for him what Omkara did for Saif Ali Khan. A star has evolved into an actor."

That said, when it comes to Bollywood, nothing screams star more than being tabloid fodder... and Shahid has dominated more than his share of headlines for his relationship with Kareena. Rivers of ink have flowed into charting their dating exploits... like the 2005 mobile phone photos of their passionate lip lock at a club which were circulated and later publishedin a Mumbai tabloid.

His serial co-star dating in his post-Kareena days is also getting tabloid attention. Vidya Balan, his co-star in Kismet Konnection, revealed recently that they were indeed dating and had a bad break-up. He was also linked with co-star Priyanka Chopra though both actors denied that they were dating. And now the grapevine is shaking with talk that he is dating his current co-star, Anouskha Sharma.

And what about the man himself? How is he reacting to the attention from the media and fans?
In an interview with NDTV, Shahid said he is not obsessed about media-driven moulds that he is supposed to occupy.

"It's great to own a space. Then you find another space, you occupy that. I am attracted to anything different. I like to do anything that makes me uncomfortable. Once in a while you have to mix it up with something new," he said.

"The various tags have been given to me since the success of Kaminey. And I am very happy to hear them, but the most important thing is to keep doing good work and surprising the audience every now and then."

Humble words. Perhaps that's just one more reason for those female fans to keep using terms like sweet and sexy. I'm adding one more to their collection: Superstar.

sheela@sph.com.sg