Other side of beauty and fame

Mumbai city - the world of glitter and glamour - can also be very brutal.

Here talent and skill comes second to beauty and body. This leads young men and women to cosmetic surgeons and starvation diets.

The case in point is of Mahua Kamath – member of all girl band VIVA.

Four years back she was one of the most famous faces on television, winner of a talent hunt she was part of the all girls quartet VIVA.

Unusual celebrity

With unconventional looks and a far from perfect body, Mahua was an unusual celebrity.

"Out of 5000 girls who auditioned, there were just a handful who were heavy. I was one of them and thankfully I went through," she said.

"But I still pulled through because at that time my weight wasn’t bogging me down, for me it was just about the talent and singing," she added.

"As soon as I got in it, we didn’t have time for anything, on top of that we had the diet and exercise regime," she said.

Mahua used to meet with their dietician who would give her pills etc.

Tough work-out schedule

"It was really upsetting because we used to get up at 5 in the morning, work out for two hours and come back and have breakfast, which consisted of eight almonds, " she said.

Apart from this she had two hours of singing practice and two and a half hours of dancing, which was strenuous.

For lunch she had a dry bran roti with dry sprouts.

"It was a lot of pressure, because I fainted a few times, didn’t have enough energy," she said.

The fall-out

"Right now I am suffering from hypo thyroidism, which if not taken care of can be fatal," she said.

"I was told by the doctor that my erratic eating habits, diets, and the pills had been stuffed in to my system and that led to this problem," she said.

"A lot of women face it, but I am not supposed to have it at such a young age, I am just 24-years old," she said.

After VIVA broke up in 2003, Mahua for a while went into a shell, her self-confidence was shaken.

The irony is that a lot of people across the country not just appreciated Mahua's talent but felt she was more real and could identify with her.

But it wasn’t a very positive thing for the people who put in money for pop stars.

"They kept saying I need to look good and fit into certain clothes, this is your destiny," she said.

Mahua came into the limelight because she wanted to sing, little realising that in the industry, looks are at a premium.

And there's really no limit to what people will go through or made to go through in the name of beauty.