A naughty prank played by Akshay Kumar in Italy when shooting for Sajid Nadiadwala’s Housefull, brought the three actresses of the film — Lara Dutta, Deepika Padukone and Jiah Khan, close together. The story’s been told before, but it’s worthy of repetition.
The Khiladi, a notorious prankster, made Jiah the butt of his joke at an Italian restaurant where the cast had gone for dinner. When the young actress went to the ladies’ room, Akshay stuffed all the branded silverware on the table into Jiah’s handbag. Then sitting back poker-faced, Akshay warned the others to act normal and watch the fun. Poor Jiah, she returned and was completing her meal when the restaurant authorities descended on the table and recovered the “stolen” cutlery. Jiah nearly died,” giggled Deepika, “it was her first taste of Akshay’s masti.” “And all of us gave her these accusing ‘what-have-you-done’ looks,” added Lara.
But the Khiladi’s brand of humour only brought the three actresses closer on the sets of Housefull. And, in a twist that’s unusual for Bollywood, they began bonding big time off sets too. Strangely, Lara, Deepika and Jiah all play Akshay’s wives in the Sajid Khan-directed film. “Lara and I are Bangalore girls, so the camaraderie was there from day one,” said Deepika. “Yes,” agreed Lara, “we come from similar backgrounds. Deepika, like me, was a model from Bangalore.” Jiah was the baby on the sets but said Lara and Deepika helped her to feel comfortable. Except, of course, when Akshay got the devil in him!
But that’s not what is making the three hotties break into giggles over this photo-shoot. TOI had asked, “How high on the thigh?” (go on, check out their legs) to find out which actress was wearing the shortest outfit! To discover that they are all comfortable in their skins and don’t mind flashing their legs or exposing cleavage on screen, too. Wait and see. Sajid, in fact, has got them all in bikinis for Housefull. And that, even for Akshay, must have been more than a handful!
