Aishwarya among most searched people on MSN
- IndiaGlitz, [Friday,February 11 2005]
Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai is among the most-searched people on MSN's search engine.
After starring in Gurindar Chaddha's "Bride and Prejudice" and appearing on late night talk-show host David Letterman's show, Aishwarya and the movie might have broken the glass ceiling that existed between Bollywood and Hollywood.
Rai is among the "top search movers" on MSN's Popular Searches. She ranks third in a list that includes Mars Rover 1, Super Bowl Commercials, Black History Month, and Ossie Davis, an African American actor who recently died.
"It is a big deal for a desi to become so hot on the Internet," said Vivek Wadhwa, an IT businessman from North Carolina currently involved in the production and release of the movie "My Bollywood Bride" starring Jason Lewis and Kashmira Shah.
"'Bride and Prejudice' may or may not be a great movie but it is opening up doors in a big way for Bollywood and Indians," said Wadhwa, who writes a column in Business Week recounting his experiences in the foray into Hollywood and Bollywood.
"All this press Aishwarya is getting is wonderful. I know that from our side, we started with a lot of interest and now with all this attention that Bollywood is getting, we are having distributors breaking down our doors to do deals with us," Wadhwa said.
Wadhwa and others believe the cultural pendulum in the film world is swinging from East to West and that includes financing of films.
"During our time, it was the reverse, we were influenced by Western culture. Now it's the West's turn to learn about us, watch our films and listen to our music," Wadhwa said.
MSN's most popular searches:
Top 5 Search Movers
Mars Rover 1.
Super Bowl commercials 2.
Aishwarya Rai 3.
Black History Month 4.
Ossie Davis 5.