Saturday, 11 June 2011 00:00 By Ibukunoluwa Kayode

.IN May 2009, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named the Nigerian movie industry, otherwise known as Nollywood, as the second largest in the world after Bollywood, its Indian counterpart.

It is by no means a mean feat, especially given that before 1991 when the epochal Living In Bondage, the Igbo language epic, came as the veritable precursor to what is today Nollywood, the percentage contribution of Nigeria to the global film industry was less than five per cent. Some may argue, and rightfully so, that Nollywood is more about quantity than quality. But, as they say, you always start from somewhere.

And, let’s face it, India also was once about quantity (and, to some extent, even so right now) but it has blossomed into a sophisticated, billion-dollar industry that every Indian anywhere in the world is, to be sure, proud to be associated with. What about Hollywood? A time was when the mighty Hollywood also gave the world films in which the characters were technically dumb, only showing body movements and gestures but no voice-over. So, the teething problems of Nollywood are understandable. But, what cannot be denied is that Nollywood has made a phenomenal impact on world movie, the market leader in Africa where once Indian and American movies reigned supreme. Upper Iweka and Pound Road have since replaced California and Bombay in Nigerian homes!

But quantity or not, there are features of modern movie that are decidedly universal. They are often as American as they are Indian or Nigerian. One of such features are beautiful women. Truth is, the bevy of beauties in Hollywood and or Bollywood can also be found in Nollywood. Julia Roberts, Portia De Rossi? Well, how about Bollywood’s Sonam Kapoor or Kangana Ranaut? Or Nollywood’s Lilian Bach or Chika Ike?

However, this report is about the Bigger And The Biggest: Nollywood V Bollywood. Really, how do the two compare, in terms of the beauty, elegance and the acting prowess of the girls that we pay to watch at the cinemas or for whose sake we subscribe to AfricaMagic or HiNolly?

Ok, who, in Nollywood, for instance, is the equivalent of Bollywood’s diva, the very talented and beautiful Aishwarya Rai? Rai, now Aishwarya Bachchan, is the undisputed queen of Bollywood who, in 2007, was crowned Miss World.

According to a profile of her posted on Wikipedia, Rai has been the most popular face of Indian cinema globally. In 2001, Forbes magazine named her among the ‘Top Five Most Powerful Indian Movie Stars.’ In 2003 Rai became a global brand ambassador of L’Oreal alongside Andie Macdowell, Eva Longoria and Penelope Cruz. In a poll conducted by UK‘s Hello magazine, she was voted the number-one in the list of “The most attractive woman of 2003”. In the same year, Rai appeared in Rolling Stone magazine’s annual “Hot List”. In 2004 she was chosen by Time magazine as one of the World’s “100 Most Influential People” after having already appeared on the magazine’s cover in its 2003 Asia Edition. In October 2004 a wax figure of Rai was put on display in London‘s Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. She was the sixth Indian and the second Bollywood personality after her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan to get this honour.

On January 1, 2005, she was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on, which said that “at least according to thousands of Web sites, Internet polls and even Julia Roberts”, she was “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman”. The same year, a special tulip in the Netherlands was named “Aishwarya Rai“ after her. Also in 2005, Mattel released a limited edition of Barbie dolls of Aishwarya Rai in the United Kingdom.The British magazine Maxim ranked Rai the number-one in the list of “Hottest Women of India”.

Rai appeared on such shows as Late Show with David Letterman, and was the first Bollywood personality to appear on Oprah’s “Women Across the Globe” segment. In 2005, Harpers and Queen‘s list of “10 Most Beautiful Women in The World” ranked her at the ninth spot. In May 2006, Aishwarya featured in American People Magazine as one of the “World’s Most Beautiful People”. The UK magazine Eastern Eye ranked her third in the list of “Asia’s Sexiest Women” in the year 2006, and was ranked 8th in 2009”.

In 2008, American television channel E! Entertainment Sexiest Body Parts list crowned Aishwarya as the woman with the “sexiest eyes” in the world! And so on and so forth!

So, readers, who is Nollywood’s Aishwarya Rai? And, here, we are thinking as much in terms of all the accolades she has already garnered globally (don’t forget, though, that our girls have just started this thing anyway!) as in terms of the beauty, talent and the potential that our girl has to rival Rai. Look at these photographs very well: who among the gals in Nollywood has also the poise, elegance and sex appeal of the incredible Rai? Which of them has that potential of becoming a globally celebrated star as Rai is?

It is a game, really. And this is how it is played: send a text message or text messages to phone number … to nominate a contestant of your choice and say in a few words why you made your choice. The nominations will be open up to 12 mid-day next Friday, June 10. After that, a panel of in-house celebrity watchers will then sit to collate the nominations. The celebrity with the most nominations will be declared the winner, our own Aishwarya Rai, and announced in our Saturday 11 edition.

The first 20 people to nominate the winner will receive a N2000 recharge card via the phone they used to send the texts.

So, readers, tell us: who is Nollywood’s Aishwarya Rai?

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50130:nollywood-v-bollywood-bigger-and-the-biggest&catid=189:celebrity&Itemid=716