(Andha Item)Sold on Himself - Rajeev Masand

Courtesy: open magazine

A down-on-his luck actor who scored a surprise hit recently has decided to exploit the current success of his movie by hiring a shrewd publicist, and showing up just about anywhere that cameras are likely to be present.

Nothing wrong with that, given that the poor chap was more or less forgotten until now.

But the problem is, the gummy-smiled actor appears to have great delusions of his importance. He has insisted that his publicists negotiate a handful of magazine covers for him, and put him on all the top chat shows on television, aside from securing him invitations to every big bash in the city. Unfortunately for him, the only person who thinks his fate has truly turned is himself. His publicist has been screamed at for not delivering, and for failing to "milk my success".

Not only do magazines not want him on their covers, they're not exactly queuing up to interview him for inside stories either. The few journalists his publicist has been able to round up to interview him have apparently come away complaining that the actor invariably asks them to interview his girlfriend too, who is not only unconnected with films, but flat out boring as well.

The young fellow doesn't even have another film on the cards, aside from a possible sequel to the hit he's celebrating. His publicist has reportedly told him, gently, to expend his energies finding movies he can do, and that publicity would invariably follow. But the actor seems to have only one thing on his mind"waking up to pictures of himself in every tabloid and film glossy!