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There's no dearth of desi blood in Bollywood, but ever since Rachel Shelley lost her itty-bitty heart to Aamir Khan in Lagaan, our divas have had to accommodate their western counterparts in their movies, sometimes as leading ladies, sometimes as sidekicks and sometimes as rivals in the game of onscreen love.
We talk about our exports with such heart-bursting pride - for instance, there's our very own beauty queen slash first lady of Bollywood royalty and brand endorsements slash perennial favourite of Bollywood bigwigs slash wife of the scion of a one-man industry slash ... you get the point. She's yet to hit the big time in "crossover" cinema, but to fill up the void that her periodic goodbyes to home soil bring about, Bollywood has made way for blue-eyed starlets from across the seas. Here's a look at some of them.
Rachel Shelley: This green-eyed Brit beauty was in the news for divulging the plotline of Lagaan prior to its release, thereby managing to get on the wrong side of Mr Perfectionist Khan. Psst, I think the height was a bigger issue.
Alice Patten: Repeat offender Aamir Khan's love interest in 2006's ode to jingoism, Rang De Basanti, the willowy Alice Patten, was another import from the UK. But she was no Rachel Shelley - she kept mum and reaped rich praise for her role of an exchange student that she played with warmth and humour.
Barbara Mori: She can safely be called the western equivalent of Aishwarya Rai, insofar that she and the movie she starred in were polished to a shine and promised fireworks, respectively, but both went kaput at the box office. Rumoured to have been more than c0-star to Hrithik, Barbara's Bollywood debut might not have set the cash registers ringing, but she passed with flying colours. Will this Uruguayan-Japanese come back for seconds? Time will tell.
Giselle Monteiro: Bollywood's best kept secret last year was Brazilian lass Giselle, opposite Saif Ali Khan in the "Kal" half of Love Aaj Kal. Her role of shy Harleen Kaur had people sitting up and taking notice right from the time movie teasers and promos were released.
Kalki Koechlin: This unconventional actress of French descent danced into the limelight with her gritty, edgy portrayal of Chandramukhi in boyfriend Anurag Kashyap's modernistic, psychedelic adaptation of Devdas, Dev D. Again in the news for the wrong reasons, Kalki looks like she's here to stay.
Sarah Thompson: This accomplished American actress shared some terrific chemistry with Ranbir Kapoor on the sets of Raajneeti. Even though she had a minor role and very little screen time, she says she'd love to work in Bollywood again. Any takers?
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