» You're a moviestar baby

Me the Bollywood Queen
When I was 12 we lived in Bombay in India. My mum's friend ran a talent agency and they wanted some "anglo girls" to be in a movie party scene. So off I went to this hotel with a couple of other girls aged about 15 or 16. We were kitted out in 1960s bikinis and blonde wigs and off we went. The scene was being shot outside next to a pool and so I was put under an outdoor shower and surrounded by Indian men a lot older than me and when the music started we all had to dance under the shower together "in a friendly fashion" and rub coloured powder on our bodies while the star Shashi Kapoor fought off the villains. I had so much fun I couldn't wait to get home and tell mum and dad. Unsurprisingly, I wasn't allowed to go back the next day. My mother fretted for years the fact that I put my real name on the sign-on sheet and was terrified it would come back and embarrass us one day.
(Wed 17th Nov 2004, 3:49, More)