Indian parties vie for Bollywood stars

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As the battle for the ballot hots up, India's leading political parties are
vying with each other to rope in Bollywood stars to bolster their election
campaigns. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and its main rival the Congress have been unveiling their latest
prized star catch almost everyday, drawing huge media attention in a nation
crazy about movies. Stars often have cult-like followings in India, where
some of them such as Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan are worshipped in
temples, so the line between reel and real life can be blurred. The
star-as-politician first emerged in the south decades ago where matinee
idols M.G. Ramachandran and N.T. Rama Rao, who often played Hindu god
Krishna, enjoyed long tenures as chief ministers. A screen
siren-turned-politician rules the southern state of Tamil Nadu and two
former Bollywood action heroes, Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna, are
federal ministers.

Source:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=475
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