Controversy - instant claim to fame for Bollywood wannabes

Starlets like Noopur Mehta, Poonam Pandey and Veena Malik have proved that there is nothing like a controversy to get instant fame. From fighting to stripping to romantic linkups, their much talked about acts have been grabbing headlines.

IANS lists some names that have hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons:

Nupur Mehta: She had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role in Sunny Deol- starrer "Jo Bole So Nihaal". But the aspiring actress got her 15 seconds of fame after her name cropped up in match-fixing allegations stemming from the India-Pakistan World Cup match last year. The actress added fuel to fire after admitting she was dating Sri Lankan cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan. Post her confession, she has been splashed on TV news channels and chat shows.

Paoli Dam: Bengali actress Paoli Dam was nobody before she appeared in the poster of "Hate Story" where she shows a tattooed bare back with a strategically placed gun. It was followed by an uncensored clip of "Hate Story", showing Paoli delivering sexually explicit and abusive dialogues, going viral on the net. Ever since, she hasbeen hogging the limelight for her uninhibited views on nudity and boldness in front of the camera. Last year she got negative publicity for her bold scene in Bengali film "Chatrak".Poonam Pandey: The 19-year-old aspiring model created a frenzy last year after offering to go nude in the green room before Team India if they won the Cricket World Cup. Though she didn't bare all after the win, she did post a topless picture of hers after India defeated Sri Lanka during the Tri-Series at Hobart in February. It made her the most sought after person on the internet and landed her a place in the adventure reality show "Khatron Ke Khiladi 4".Veena Malik: The Pakistani actress has been talked about for all her linkups with Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif and Bollywood actor Ashmit Patel and her alleged nude photo shoot for FHM magazine. In fact, religious fundamentalists were so upset with her nude pictures that they issued a fatwa against her. Once the hype around died down, she hogged media attention when she went missing from the sets of her upcoming film "Mumbai 125 Kilometres".Pooja Misrra: This VJ grabbed eyeballs for being aggressive and loudmouthed in the fifth season of the reality show "Bigg Boss". After being evicted from it, she accused host Salman Khan of being biased. She was even embroiled in a war of words with her "Bigg Boss" house inmate Pooja Bedi.Rakhi Sawant: She is tagged as drama queen by many. Item girl Rakhi Sawant has always made headlines either for making sarcastic remarks on actresses like Katrina Kaif or Malaika Arora Khan or her kissing episode with singer Mika or for her fight with her ex-boyfriend Abhishek Awasthi. It helped her become so popular that she appeared on Karan Johar's chat show and bagged item numbers in big banner movies.

Sherlyn Chopra: Sherlyn made her Bollywood debut with the 2007 film "Red Swastik" in which she had quite a bold role. However, the film didn't help her much. But she managed to be in the news for posting nude pictures on Twitter.

Sambhavna Seth: The Bhojpuri item girl set the TRPs soaring with her high-voltage drama on the reality shows - "Bigg Boss" and "Desi Girl". In "Bigg Boss", she got involved in an argument with television actress Shweta Tiwari's ex-husband Raja Chaudhary, while in "Desi Girl" she locked horns with Kashmira Shah.

-Priyanka Sharma