~!!!!Stars official websites!!!!~ article

Not many of his fans are aware that the shy and brooding Ajay Devgan is a net savvy guy who has recently launched his official website www.ajaydevgan.net.

"Ajay has realised the need to have a website to give right information about him and connect to the world in this era of Internet. Now he replies to all the mails himself," says a friend of Ajay.

The net has always been dominated by several sites devoted to Bollywood movies. In a film crazy country this is but natural. However, what is interesting is that the 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 Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan we have them all netted. And believe it or not in the e-space the stars seem to be much more candid about their answers. Take for instance, the immensely talented Shekhar Kapur.

Almost all the film journalists must have asked him about his Hollywood plans. And the answers all of them are sure to agree were often not thirst- quenching.

In his website, (or rather his official blogsite which tells us about him) he seems to be quite open about his Hollywood ventures. "Hollywood in its dying throes….like a dragon in agony of death…its hunger and greed fuelled by bloated executives and fed by paid critics…"

In fact his blog is an extensive collection of his thoughts that goes on in the form of verse and prose attempting to give the visitor an insight into his life. It even has a personal diary where one can just turn the pages and read about his life, thoughts, future plans…

Kapur is not an exception. A whole lot of Bollywood celebrities seem to have realised that there is a whole new space that they can occupy, besides the silver screen. Writes actor Anil Kapoor in his home page of his site anilkapoor.net:

"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," he says. His website www.anilkapoor.net in fact, is a thoroughly researched document on his career and life with recent news about his professional life.

Different actors, however, have different conceptions of how their website should look like. But the basic objective always remains same- to reach out to their audience. Therefore like Anil Kapoor the website of Uday Chopra tells us personal details of himself like his school life, youth and why he wanted to act.

Veteran actor Manoj Bajpai's website with its categories in French seems a bit abstract. Nonetheless, the website sums up a credible document of Manoj's journey into filmdom.

"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," he says in www.manojbajpai.net

His website lacks the usual fare comprising detailed biography and any inputs on personal life. It rather has a compilation of interviews given to different publications.

Bollywood diva Aishwarya Rai has a more flamboyant site. Aishwaryaworld.com is enough to keep her fans entertained for a long stretch. In this site one can assemble musical Ash e cards, play Ash games like unscramble Ash's face and the see pictures of baby Aishwarya.

And it also sells personalised merchandise. Ash autographed pictures come for free but Ash T-shirts, Ash mugs and Ash bumper stickers are all priced in dollars!!

"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 websites for many upcoming concerns and stars as well.

Often, the stars have no idea of the medium and make unreasonable demands like the website should have a specific number of hits per week that is often not possible to guarantee. The stars on the other hand are not without their share of troubles.

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 later. Reportedly Miss Universe Sushmita Sen was a victim when a Canada based Indian hogged the domain name www.sushmitasen.com.

Despite all the newness and troubles associated with cyber-world it seems our stars are all set to be netted.

Says Bollywood Badshah Aamir Khan in his upcoming website www.aamirkhan.com: "Hii right now I am in the process of putting up my official website together. Leave me your email address and I will let you know when it is up. Love. Aamir."

Take a look at:

aishwaryaworld.com
shekharkapur.com
vinodchopra.com
mirabaifilms.com [Mira Nair]
raghubiryadav.com
manojbajpai.net
anilkapoor.net
ajaydevgan.net