FROM QUEEN TO MOTHER: Dharker

The trek that began as an impoverished rickshaw-puller's other half in City of Joy and moved on to the role of Queen Jamilla in Star Wars: Episode II has now led actor Ayesha Dharker-she with the swarthy complexion and the fulsome kissers-to yet another milestone. The latest assignment to fall in the lap of the international award-winning star is a role in writer Meera Syal's screen adaptation of Anita and Me. Dharker, winner of the Best Artistic Contribution by an Actress award at the Cairo Film Festival for her portrayal of a suicide bomber in The Terrorist, gushes, "I met Meera's parents as I am playing her mother's part in the film. It was a brilliant experience." That's quite unlike a star. But then what do you expect from someone who dismisses her role in Star Wars as "nothing big"? Some people just refuse to believe that they are destiny's child.

Doing Her Bid

So you thought the appeal of a beauty queen was limited to her tenure? Chances are, Diana Hayden will brand you naive. At a Help Us Grow fundraiser for autistic children in London, the beauteous model had many men eager to kiss her. And though actor-politician Vinod Khanna, who shared the table with Hayden, resisted a bid-it's probably age catching up-a rich man paid a hefty sum-£6,000, no less-only to have the sexy lassy give him a peck on the cheek. This, from someone crowned Miss World almost an eternity ago-in 1997! Last heard, Hayden's director boyfriend Kaizad Gustaad was scouting for a "proper script" to launch the lovely lady. Wonder if he still is...

High Stakes

If you walked into a Barnes & Noble store and asked for a book on Bollywood, the salesperson would probably do a doubletake. But that is poised to change come August, thanks to Lucky Dissanayake, a London-based publisher, who is to release Bollywood, a glossy book of 350 pages crammed with 453 images. Dissanayake will be hoping that her gamble pays off. After all, she sold her London flat and also staked her savings to publish the pictorial history of Bollywood. Unable to afford the regular sales route, Dissanayake has decided to take to e-commerce and is hawking the product on her website: www.dakinibooks.com. The plucky former journalist of London's The Daily Telegraph, who struck on the idea rather by accident, says, "I felt that it was a remarkable opportunity to talk about the largest film industry in the world." At £155,000 it must surely rank as the most expensive conversation in the world.