Prince charming - Padmini

It's 23 years since Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, visited Mumbai. Yet the city has not forgotten the then eligible royal bachelor receiving a peck on the cheek from a budding actress at the shooting of a movie.

Padmini Kolhapure, the Bollywood actress who kissed the prince when he attended the shooting of the film Ahista, Ahista at the Rajkamal Studios in Parel, says she wasn't at all emabarrassed by the incident.

She admits though that she is "quite amazed that it created a furore in the press."

And the "little incident has not been forgotten through the years and comes up in every media interview " she told Gulf News.

"Prince Charles talked to the well-known producer-director V. Shantaram and spent quite some time interacting with the film unit," Kolhapure reminisced.

After actress Shash-ikala greeted him in the traditional Indian way by performing an 'aarti'‚ he turned to the 16-year-old Kolhapure who shook hands with him and then kissed him on his cheek. "It was a very spontaneous, completely impromptu act and I'll have to wrack my brains to remember if the prince said anything later.

"I believe I must have kissed his cheek thinking it was the British way to greet a guest and show India wants to get closer to Britain," she joked.

She does not remember whether she turned red but "if I did blush it must have been hidden under the heavy make-up."

Now that the Prince is in India, she has no idea about his itinerary nor whether she will be attending any of the events.

She still wonders though what thoughts crossed her mind at that time "but Prince Charles looked absolutely smashing". Enough to warrant that impromptu kiss.