Celina follows Ash to Hollywood

These days Bollywood stars are too desperate to be a part of Hollywood. But all they end up doing are miniscule or insignificant roles which serve only as publicity material back home.

One big example is Mallika Sherawat in "Myth". Ethereal beauty Aishwarya Rai has been trying to break in for a long time and even after 'Bride and Prejudice', 'Mistress of Spices', 'Provoked', 'Last Legion', nothing concrete has happened.

How she fares in 'Pink Panther' will be known only when the film releases. Same goes for Shilpa Shetty's 'Hanuman'.

Joining the bandwagon now is Celina Jaitley, who has been signed for historical epic "The Quest of Sheherzade".

The international production will tell the tales of the legendary "1001 Nights" woven by a mystical warrior princess, Sheherzade.

Says producer Shani Rigsbee ("Crash", "One Night with the King"): "I was aware of Celina's work and was anxious to discuss the project with her. After our meeting, we knew that she truly had the sensitivities and the passion for the theme of the film.

Besides her beauty, that was an attribute we felt necessary for our project."

Executive producer Deborah Davis ("Borderland", "Nightlife") says: "Our version of the Sheherzade story will be approached as a Hollywood style epic which will be both cinematically beautiful and also story driven. We are planning to reach out to an international audience and Celina is the perfect leading lady for us."

On her part, Celina finds this a great opportunity, especially since there are two top Hollywood stars, one senior and one junior, opposite her. "I would like to explore and experiment with different kinds of cinema. In fact, being fluent in German, I would like to do a German film too," she says.

However, Bollywood would always remain a priority for the actress, who has consciously decided to do two good Bollywood films and one international film every year.

Learning a lesson from her past mistakes, Celina says: "I will be very selective about the kind of films I do from now on. I will focus on quality. It's every actor's dream to be taken seriously."

Although this venture might not make much of a difference to Celina's career, hopefully, working with professional managers in the West will refine her as an actress.

As of now, Celina must be happy that she didn't have to struggle to bag the project, as much as she has to do to get good Bollywood movies.