In South Africa, Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has woven a hypnotic web among the natives, says a business honcho from the country who is visiting India’s commercial capital.

“He is bigger than any icon there. He has girls swooning over him and his fan following is bigger than any Hollywood megastar. South Africans just love him,” Themba Ngcobo, president, Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told IANS.

“In fact, I am one of his fans myself and I have never missed any of his films, even though I usually see it with subtitles,” Ngcobo said.

“Indian film stars have a huge fan following and the Hindi film market is also huge because the demographic concentration of Indians is extremely high,” Ngcobo said.

Ngcobo is one of the leaders of the high-powered delegation from South Africa on a visit to India to attract investment and expertise.

The heavy presence of Indian residents in South Africa certainly boosted the Hindi film market, but the “recently-introduced sops and incentives to the Indian film industry have also taken the ties further,” Ngcobo said.

According to Ngcobo, though the Indian film industry in the late 1990s had started looking at South Africa for shooting, the hosting of the International Indian Film Academy Awards in 2001 and 2003 helped make the Indian film industry aware of its potential.

Everybody’s talking about Bipasha Basu and her hot looks in RACE is a turn on! Especially the eyes! The smoky look of the extended eyeliner a la Sophia Loren has sparked off a trend not only in the film industry but also in the modeling circle.

Sharmila Tagore was the first actress to have started that trend.

Bipasha has always been open to experiments. The actress has always wanted to try out something new when it comes to her looks and character in films. Race gave her a chance to experiment with different looks importantly playing with her eyes.

Bipasha said, “Eyes speak volumes! You don’t have to say anything at that point of time! It is the eyes that talk! They say, ‘Samjhnewale ko ishara kafi hai’! Anaita has done a great job of styling me in RACE and trying to new make up trend by extending my eye liner.”