Not many of his fans are aware that the shy and brooding Ajay Devgan is a Net savvy guy who recently launched his official web site.
"Ajay has realised the need to have a web site to give right information about him and connect to the world in this era of the Internet. Now he replies to all the mails himself," says a friend of Ajay. The Internet has always been dominated by several sites devoted to Hindi films. What is interesting is that stars themselves seem to have woken up to the potential that this form of marketing offers. So right from Shekhar Kapur to Aishwarya Rai, Sonu Nigam to Anil Kapoor, everyone's getting Netted. And believe it or not, the stars seem to be much more candid about their answers in the virtual world.Meanwhile, Aamir Khan is still in the process of building his web site.
While Shekhar Kapur may not be very open about his Hollywood plans to the media, Kapur is quite open about it on his blog.
It is an extensive collection of his thoughts that goes on in the form of verse and prose, giving the visitor an insight into his life. It even has a personal diary where you can just turn the pages and read about his life, thoughts, future plans.You can also post comments on his blog. And yes, Kapur does reply.
It seems the stars of tinsel town have always wantedc to reach out, and the Net is giving them a whole new opportunity.
Writes Anil Kapoor on his site: I have always wanted to be a part of my fans' lives and make them a part of my world. The web seems to be the best way for doing so.His web site is a thoroughly researched document on his career and life, including his milestones, awards and upcoming movies.
Manoj Bajpai's web site also sums up the actor's journey into filmdom.
He writes: 'Now when I look back, I wonder how I could have travelled so far. Every moment in my life was great. My journey was highly educating.'Some might feel his site lacks a personal touch, like a detailed biography and inputs on his personal life. It does include a compilation of interviews given to different publications, though.
Aishwarya Rai has a more flamboyant site. She keeps her fans entertained with musical e-cards, games -- like unscramble Ash's face -- and exciting pictures, including baby photographs of the actress.
It also sells personalised merchandise like T-shirts, mugs and bumper stickers -- all priced in dollars, mind you -- and free autographed pictures. "Internet marketing is the in thing and an excellent way stars can market themselves. The sad part is that our stars, especially in the regional film industries, are not aware of it," says designer Debasish Ghosh, whose company has designed web sites for many upcoming stars. Often, the stars have no idea of the medium and make unreasonable demands -- like the web site must have a specific number of hits per week -- that are not possible to meet.But stars are not without their share of troubles either. A common problem is cyber squatting where someone buys a domain name in the name of a celebrity and sells it for a high price. Reportedly Sushmita Sen was a victim when a Canada-based Indian hogged the domain name www.sushmitasen.com.
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