DUBAI: A Dubai court has fined an Indian man who said he was rehearsing for a role in a Bollywood movie for cross-dressing after he was seen applying mascara at a shopping mall.

The court found the 45-year-old property development firm manager identified only as P K guilty of cross-dressing in public, reports said.

"I'm not guilty ... I was cross-dressed because I was training to perform a woman's role in Indian cinema," the Gulf News reported the defendant as telling the public prosecutor.

The court fined him 10,000 dirhams ($2,700, BD1,020) and suspended an initial six-month sentence for three years during which the man must not repeat the act.

However the prosecution has appealed to seek stiffer punishment, the paper said, adding that the appeal will be heard next month.

The man was arrested by a police officer in civilian clothes in the Mall of the Emirates. Police who apprehended the man said his outfit was glittering like "a woman's clothes," and that "he wore a bra, mascara, women's perfume and a wig" at the mall.

The defendant claims he was cross-dressing as part of his preparation for a small part in an upcoming Bollywood movie, when he received an urgent phone call. He also disputes claims that he tried to bribe the police officer who arrested him, arguing that he simply offered to pay the fine on the spot.