Meena Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 14, 2017)

Bhumi Pednekar recently grabbed eyeballs at the Versova gymnasium she has been frequenting for a few years now, thanks to an altercation with another patron over air-conditioning on the premises.

“The argument was over switching off of the air-conditioner and it got slightly unruly,” a source informed Mirror, adding that the gym has around seven ACs in the workout area with temperatures normally maintained at around 16 degree and Bhumi found the temperature to be too low. “The point of exercising for her is to sweat it out. Bhumi brought up the issue with the gym manager, who agreed to switch off the ACs in the area she was in.”

Soon after, a lady, visibly upset about the temperature, approached Bhumi. “She told her to step out and exercise elsewhere if the temperature was bothering her so much. When Bhumi tried to reason with her, the lady got even more riled up and that’s when an annoyed Bhumi shot back, ‘You have no idea who I am’,” the source added.

When Mirror reached out to Bhumi, the actress, who plays Akshay Kumar’s leading lady in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, confirmed the news, arguing that the gym felt like Alaska. “The staff saw my point and conceded. I was trying to talk to the manager and settle it when another member, who is apparently asthamatic, got upset. I didn’t know about her ailment and tried telling her about my discomfort with working out in a cold place. I even requested her to talk to the manager and explain things to him rather than talking to me,” she reasons.

The actress was aghast when she learnt that another member described her as rude and standoffish. “I will never speak rudely to another lady, especially if she is older than me. My tone was never disrespectful,” Bhumi signed off.