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MUMBAI: Former Bollywood actress Mamta Kulkarni, 42, who was arrested along with her partner Vicky Goswami in Kenya yesterday on charges of drug trafficking, may have become victim of her greed to become quickly rich.
Mamta, who was one of the first bare-dare babes in Bollywood in the 1990s, did some notable films such as Kabhie Tum Kabhie Hum, China Gate, Baazi and Karan Arjun and then disappeared from the scene.
Her former photographer Jayesh Sheth, whose topless photo-shoot of Mamta helped her bag roles in Bollywood, told the tabloid Mumbai Mirror that during her last conversation with the actress in 1996 she told him that she wanted to go abroad and get filthy rich.
Recalling his first meeting with Mamta, the photogarpher said that it was in 1989 when she walked into his studio for a photo-shoot. She said she wanted to be a Bollywood star. But the photo-shoot didn’t get her any Bollywood role, he said.
But luckily for Mamta, Stardust magazine at that time was looking for an A-list actress to pose topless, but no actress agreed. The photographer said he proposed Mamta’s name to the magazine. “I suggested Mamta’s name, pointing out her innocent face and sexy body.’’
Sheth said when he spoke to Mamta she readily agreed to shed her clothes for the camera. That photo-shoot brought her instant fame and roles opposite Akshay Kumar, Govinda and Aamir Khan in Bollywood. “It was a shortcut to success. Mamta was soon competing with another promising contender, Divya Bharti,’’ Sheth told the tabloid.
After many years when she rose in Bollywood, the photographer said she one day walked back into her studio in 1996 and wanted a photo-shoot.
“I could see she was not in good shape, physically, and it was her do-or-die attempt. While at my studio she got a call from Dubai. After putting the phone down, she told me she planned to go abroad and get filthy rich. That was the last conversation we had, back in 1996,’’ the photographer said.
He said all the rumours about her disappearance, settling in Dubai and marrying a don (Vicky Goswami) and becoming a sanyasin, made him curious about Mamta’s life – here was someone who was once a struggling actress, then made it big in Bollywood and then suddenly disappeared.
Sheth told the tabloid that said he is doing a film whose “protagonist has definitely been inspired by Mamta Kulkarni. I was just putting the finishing touches to the script when I heard that she has been traced to Kenya. I was shocked but not really surprised. But now, given this fresh twist in her story, I’l have to make some changes in the climax of my film.’’
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