Bollywood stars Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone have all signed mega deals with overseas brands.
Katrina has been signed up as the brand ambassador for Abu Dhabi- based Etihad Airways. Filmmaker Farah Khan, who is directing Kat in her next Tees Maar Khan , will be making an ad for the airline featuring her. Kareena is the face of Firdous Lawns, one of Pakistan's leading textile manufacturers.
Kareena's ads are already on billboards in various Pakistani cities, showing the star sporting dozens of different designs.
Deepika has been roped in by the Dubai- based Aspire Real Estate. In fact, the actress signed the deal soon after her debut movie, Om Shanti Om . Aspire's association with Deepika is believed to have been very successful.
“Bollywood glamour is no longer limited only to India. Hindi film celebs have a huge appeal among NRIs and foreign audiences too,” Manish Porwal, managing director of talent management firm Alchemist, said.
Farah's ad-film with Katrina for Etihad will be shot at the airlines' airport lounge in Abu Dhabi.
According to the filmmaker, Katrina will not play an airhostess in the film. Katrina is scheduled to fly down to Abu Dhabi for a day to wrap up the ad- film from Spain, where she's filming Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milenge Dobara . Of course, the money is good.
While Kareena has reportedly received around Rs 3 crore to feature in the Firdous shoot, Katrina is believed to be getting over Rs 4 crore for the Etihad ad-film.
“Indian celebs have two advantages. While NRIs easily recognise them, foreigners — who don't recognise them — can always see them as powerful and impressive models. It's always an advantage,” Porwal said.
Besides actresses, even Bollywood's male stars have started to make their presence felt in the foreign ad space.
Aamir Khan is believed to have lapped up a three- year deal of around Rs 35 crore with UAE's telecom giant Etisalat. This makes him the highest paid Indian star in the arena of endorsement.
Not long ago, Shah Rukh signed up as the brand ambassador of du, Etisalat's rival telecom operators in UAE.
And Akshay has been chosen by the Canada Tourism Commission as its ambassador for India.
The actor has said that Canada is his second home and he is truly proud to encourage and promote Canadian tourism in India. “ I have an extremely strong connection to this great land and its warm people,” Akshay recently said about Canada.
