Brand queen

If you thought that a somewhat more, er, prosperous looking Mrs Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was losing out to the svelter kids on the block, think again. According to a recent survey conducted by World Watch Report, a leading international market research company in the luxury watch industry, the Bachchan bahu now ranks second in the list of the top 20 brand ambassadors worldwide. While Tiger Woods, topped the list with 16.2 per cent votes, Aishwarya bagged 9 per cent of the votes as the brand ambassador for Longines watches. Other Indian celebrities who make the grade are cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (with 3.3 per cent) and actor Preity Zinta (1.7 per cent).

Tamil rising

Actress and director Revathi is no stranger to national awards. Her film Mitr, My Friend had won the National Award for best film in English some years ago and she had also bagged the award for best supporting actress in the Tamil film, Thevar Magan. So she was “pleasantly surprised” by her third National award for best film on family values — a 17-minute short on parenting called Red Building Where the Sun Sets. Her own achievement apart, Revathi is upbeat about Tamil cinema. “Tamil cinema has finally learnt to market itself,” she says. “In fact, Alagarsamiyin Kuthirai, which won this year’s National Award for best popular film had gone to all the top film festivals in the world. This never happened before,” she points out. Clearly, Revathi believes that the force is with Tamil cinema now.

Safe and sound

While on Tamil films, actress-turned-politician Khushboo is also going places. The outspoken Khushboo has been invited by the United Nations to address an international conference on empowering the world’s young generation to be held in Nairobi. The actress, who has never hesitated to make an honest comment — including tell a magazine that she thought it was fine for girls to have pre-marital sex — is obviously elated. “I will focus on women’s empowerment and youth issues,” she said. Is she likely to come out with statements that will have the right wing morality brigade frothing at the mouth? Well, now that she has joined the DMK and turned into a politico, she could be more inclined to political correctness. How sad.

Very Veena

Veena Malik has a way of being in the news. The Pakistani actress who posed nude for an Indian magazine didn’t have good friend and actor Ashmit Patel by her side on her birthday. But we are told that now the twosome will get together for a yet to be announced film. And all this while Malik’s new TV show Veena Ka Vivaah — Swayamavar Season 4 looks like it’s set to be a hit. Needless to say, like her predecessor, the illustrious Rakhi Sawant, Malik too has promised to wed the most suitable boy on the show. It remains to be seen if she delivers on another promise: that she will lock lips with “interesting” candidates. Muaah, muaah.

Khan do

This is a Khan with a difference. In fact, he would rather not be known as a Khan at all. Irrfan Khan, who has just delivered a power-packed performance in Tigmanshu Dhulakia’s Paan Singh Tomar, and has a string of critically acclaimed films to his credit, has decided to drop his surname. That’s because he wants to avoid any kind of cultural or religious identity. For the same reason, the actor has even rejected some film offers that stereotype the Islamic identity. He had earlier turned down Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday because the movie had scathing references to many political and religious groups. So will Irrfan make a movie one day called My Name Is Not Khan? Watch this space.