Paapam producerlu!
It took me a long time to understand why film stars don’t spend money from their pockets. As a child I had heard stories of how NTR took home all the towels, maces, crowns (from mythologicals) and stacked them up in his studios in Abids till one politician burnt it all and left the actor mourning for his exclusive historical collection. Till diet food and health came into focus we had plenty of comedians and actors having their kitchens locked; i.e., the production food meant for them was sent home for the entire family too. All you got to do is sit with some producer on condition of anonymity and he will tell you how these artistes fleece them when the shootings are on. Heroines can’t take their favourite costumes, chiffons home but they see their phone bills are reimbursed.
During Muta Mestri shooting I’ve been witness to the hairdresser using a very dirty comb to plait Roja’s hair. Eeks, I nearly puked and wondered why she can’t buy one for herself. I’ve tried calling an actress earning close to a crore once for an interview and she made it clear through her SMS that she would not be using her mobile to make an outgoing call. Not so recently an actress from the neighbouring state wanted to come back to Telugu films as a mother-in-law and asked me how to go about the publicity stuff. All I told her was to arrange a press meet and announce that you are ready to begin your second innings. She refused saying that it will cost her a lot of money, to and fro charges for the flight, hotel accomodation, PRO fee, gifts for the press, etc.
Post Alex, I asked Rambha to courier her photos to my office and she gave me her “bhabhi’s” number. When I called her bhabhi and asked her for the photos mentioning the deadline, I overheard her brother tell his wife “internet lo boledanni vunnayi teeskomanu”.  That merely goes to show that they are used to living off the producers this long and won’t spend on the postage too!
