Masand: The Diva and Her Mother

The Papaya Seekers

The shenanigans of this sexy B-list heroine, best known for her hourglass figure and her hit item numbers, are well known in Bollywood, where gossip travels faster than lightning. Production staffers who worked on a super-hit romantic comedy a few years ago are full of stories about this actress, who created quite a stir when she was hired to shoot a sizzling item song for the film in Miami. The actress' bags were reportedly misplaced by the airline when she touched down in the beach city, and she promptly insisted that production give her shopping expenses so she could buy herself some new clothes. She reportedly purchased thousands of dollars worth of designer togs at the expense of the producers, and didn't offer to repay them when her bags were finally located by the airline and delivered to her.

The production assistants, who handed a mobile phone with a local US connection to each of the stars during their stay in Miami, snooped around these handsets after they'd been returned at the end of the shoot. On this particular actress' phone, they discovered a string of undeleted text messages she had sent to and received from her boyfriend at the time, a married Londoner. From reading the SMSes she'd sent him, they discovered she'd been demanding an expensive ring from the suitor, who had been stalling his commitment. Her messages, they insist, alternated between pleading and threatening.

But their favourite story of the actress and this outdoor shooting schedule is one involving her diva mother, who'd accompanied her to Miami.

The mother reportedly threw a fit when she found only apples and oranges stocked in the fruit tray in her hotel suite, and demanded that her favourite fruit— papayas—be made available to her.

Junior production staff cursed her under their breath when they were sent off to find papayas in Miami in the middle of summer.