As Tina Ambani watched in amazement the portrait of a perky and sensuous Bollywood actress called Tina Munim of the 1980s, she was overcome with a sense of déjà vu.

Hounded by a battery of flashbulbs and TV cameras, she stood for some moments near her own portrait by Kolkata-based painter Wasim Kapoor in which Tina the heroine was frozen in time and said, "It is beautiful. I liked mine."

Art connoisseur Tina Ambani Sunday night inaugurated at the Taj Bengal hotel the exhibition "Shades of Time", which put on display 64 portraits of enchanting Bollywood beauties painted by Kapoor in the past one and a half years.

"I am really pleased to see some of my colleagues from Bengal like Suchitra Sen, Supriya Devi and Aparna Sen in these frames," said Ambani, who has been organising the Harmony Art show in Mumbai for the last 11 years.

From Devika Rani to Meena Kumari, Nutan and Madhubala in black and white to Rakhee and Rekha to a bejewelled Aishwarya Rai in "Devdas", Kapoor has painted all of them with perfection, infusing life into the portraits.

But why would a painter of repute paint the more commercial faces of film heroines?

"Why not? Few Indian women want to be Indira Gandhi. But millions want to be a Bollywood heroine. You cannot ignore their following and popularity in our lives. They are much more respected than corrupt politicians," said Kapoor.

Pradeep Rawat, an industrialist and a painter himself, has bought all the paintings of the series and these are now available on the website www.raasinnovations.com.

Rawat, the promoter of the exhibition, said, "Kapoor is a friend for the past so many years. I always liked his works and am glad to host this series."

Rawat is all set to launch his art gallery titled Raas in Kolkata within the next six months and will also launch an online auction of paintings in India.