What is it about looking like a plain Jane, if not plain frumpy, that attracts our modern-day beauties of Bollywood? Every diva, from Urmila Matondkar to Bipasha Basu and from Aishwarya Rai to Kareena Kapoor, is going into the de-glam mode.

Urmila, known for her ultra-chic appearance and attitude in "Rangeela" and "Daud", has been doing a series of no-makeup roles. The process culminated for Urmila in Jahnu Barua's "Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara" where she played a simple straightforward middleclass girl.

"According to me it is far easier to play deglamourised parts where you don't have to focus on your makeup and other paraphernalia. It is just you and the camera," Urmila told IANS.

A sentiment shared by Kareena who, during Govind Nihalani's "Dev", "did nothing to my face except splash it with water and that was it, I was ready for a shot".

"Dev" is Kareena's most acclaimed film and performance to date.

So, is there any connection between deglamourisation and recognition?

"I wouldn't really know," said Bipasha. "But once I got into a simple salwar-kameez for Prakash Jha's 'Apaharan', I felt I had transformed into a simple working-class girl."

Rani Mukerji, who has played the scrubbed no-frills working girl so many times, agreed. "It is amazing how clothes can change the way you feel. De-glam isn't so much about getting the gait and the speech right as feeling comfy in the clothes and the look. I was completely without makeup in 'Saathiya' and 'Paheli'."

Aishwarya, considered by many to be the ultimate glam-goddess, will be seen in a totally deglamourised avatar in Jagmohan Mundhra's "Provoked" where she plays a battered wife. The role requires her to be totally removed from her glamorous persona.

"But I have made no conscious effort to look battered and bruised. It is just the way one feels when one is put in a certain traumatic situation," said Aishwarya.

Hema Malini in Gulzar's "Khushboo", Rekha in Jabbar Patel's "Musafir", Madhuri Dixit in Nana Patekar's "Prahaar", Raveena Tandon in E. Niwas's "Shool" and Juhi Chawla in Nagesh Kukunoor's "3 Deewarein" are some other actresses who dared to remove all elements of vanity from their performances by appearing utterly makeup-less on camera.