Tena Desae proclaimed she had never been kissed before — on film, that is.
But now she will get her first movie smooch from Dev Patel — he of Slumdog Millionaire fame.
They play young, illicit lovers in the poignant comedy drama The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which also stars Judi 
Dench, Maggie Smith and a host of major names.
Dench, Maggie Smith and a host of major names.
The bulk of it was filmed on locations in India where Tena is a well-known TV commercial model turned Bollywood actress, though Marigold is her first foray into Western-type film fare.
She was a little perplexed when director John Madden asked her to do a kissing scene with Dev.
‘We don’t kiss in public. It’s not done. So I was concerned at first,’ she told me.
‘I didn’t know how to do it, and I was very nervous. But Dev was wonderful and behaved like a gentleman.’
Family is all important for her, and she respects those traditions. ‘My parents are really quite strict, so I have to be home at a certain time — even now, at the age of 25.
‘If it’s old school friends that my parents know, then I can stay out till late.
But if they don’t know them, they want me home by 9pm. If I have work, then I don’t have a deadline. I don’t argue with them. That’s how I have been raised and I’m happy with it,’ she said.
We’ll be hearing a lot about Tena in the future, so I hope she gets permission to break a few curfews.
From left to right: Dev Patel, Celia Imrie, Tom Wilkinson, Diana Hardcastle, Tena Desae, Dame Judi Dench, Ronald Pickup, Penelope Wilton and John Madden were also at the premiere
Cocktails with Carey Mulligan is one of the auction prizes up for grabs at the Almeida Up Close fund-raising event, being held at One Mayfair on February 23.
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