Alyy Khan recalled a story about Naveen Andrews having an argument with Mira Nair on the set of Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, and hurling a priceless ring across the wall in anger.
British-Pakistani actor Alyy Khan spoke about witnessing starry tantrums in his career, and recalled a story about actor Naveen Andrews, who once became so angry on the sets of Mira Nair's Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love that he hurled a priceless ring into a forest. Alyy said that Mira deployed the lights and crew members to finding the ring, which had been given to her by a maharaja. Despite the incident, Mira ended up casting Naveen in another project just a couple of years later.
In an interview with Dawn News, Alyy was asked if he's witnessed embarrassing behaviour from artists in his time, and he said, “I've worked with a lot of experienced people here in Pakistan, and I've seen some of them hurl chairs and throw tantrums…” Alyy didn't take anybody's name, but proceeded to tell a detailed story about Naveen Andrews and Mira Nair. He said, “I worked with an actor who was in Kama Sutra, Mira Nair's film. I can tell you his name also, it was Naveen Andrews.”
He continued, “He was playing a king in the film, and he had an argument with the director. The were shooting in Jaipur, and he stormed off the set, ripping apart his costume. Mira had sourced a family heirloom ring from a Gujarati maharaja. Naveen is yelling and screaming as he's walking away, and he takes off the ring and shows it to Mira. He says, ‘You see this ring?' And he hurls it across the fort's walls, and into a jungle below. There was stunned silence on the set. Immediately, the lights were turned towards the jungle, spot boys were sent down on ropes to find the ring, but it was gone.”
Mira Nair had tried to insure the ring, and had even asked the maharaja to decide what they should do. “Imagine. When Mira asked him how much she should insure it for, he said, ‘It's a family heirloom, it's priceless. You can't assign a value to it'. Gone.”
Alyy said that despite the incident, Mira cast Naveen in her very next project. “That's the power of stardom and charisma,” he said. Kama Sutra, also starring Indira Varma and Sarita Choudhary and Rekha. She directed Naveen in the 1998 TV movie My Own Country. Naveen remains best known for playing Sayid Jarrah in the iconic show Lost.
