And you thought glamour had no side-effects

Thanks to her work, the 23-year-old has a chronic cold and a recurrent fever which takes some joy out of the ‘high’ of acting.‘‘My job is so stressful that I fall sick constantly. I hardly get to sleep and have no control over my diet. And if I don’t sleep well, my face bloats up. It’s not easy being an actress,’’ says Kapoor.

Good friend Shah Rukh Khan dittos the sentiment. The actor, as much in the news for his back pain and resultant surgery as his films, had once famously declared, ‘‘I’ve learnt to live with pain.’’

Sure Khan is basking in the success of his quick hit Kal Ho Naa Ho, but he has three doctors monitoring his back and his diet so that he can come to work without fail. The pressure is so much that he hasn’t even found time for the recommended physiotherapy.

Some days, admits Khan, stress does get the upper hand. ‘‘It’s a hard job. To keep on working diligently for 13 years is no mean feat.’’

For all its glamour and high perks, life in Bollywood extracts a hefty toll. Amidst the fanfare, awards and glamour, tinseltown’s pretty people must grapple with aches, pains and lifestyle diseases. Actor Suniel Shetty who turned producer for Khel was hospitalised on account of exhaustion and stress. Like Khan, a back ordeal has plagued Sunny Deol for years now.

Bollywood’s ‘sick-list’ doesn’t stop here. Sushmita Sen has the arclights to thank for her cervical spondylosis. ‘‘Acting is a physical profession. Since I took it up, my neck has gone bad. Guess, with fame also comes pain,’’ says Sen. Or sinus, if you’re Salman Khan. World-renowned for his moods, Bollywood’s shirtless wonder blames it on his profession.

‘‘Travelling and erratic shooting schedules have ruined my body clock. I’ve developed a cold. It’s like a sinus which makes me grouchy in the morning,’’ he confesses.

And directors are the worst casualties. Karan Johar lists weight loss, hair loss and sleep loss. Incidentally, Johar fainted on the sets of his mega film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. ‘‘I was on a diet, and I was nervous about directing Mr Bachchan so I fell sick and fainted,’’ he says.

Farhan Akhtar might not have fainted but the stress of directing Lakshya — a war film with Amitabh Bachchan-Hrithik Roshan-Preity Zinta in Ladakh, has taken a toll on him. Akhtar has lost nine kgs in seven months. ‘‘Ladakh is a hard place, the topography is ruthless and I had to handle 230 people. It was not a joke,’’ he says.

But he says he would do it again if needed. ‘‘Film-making is like carrying a baby. It’s painful but at the day’s end, the baby makes it worthwhile. Movies cannot be made without stress.’’ Says Kapoor, ‘‘Everyone expects the stars to look perfect. If on a particular day, my hair is not set, some tabloid writes that it looked like a broomstick. Do they care to find out that I shoot for 14 hours?’’ Point noted.