Sex symbol stands against Indian PM

Bollywood's new sex symbol, Mallika Sherawat, is ready to contest upcoming parliamentary polls against Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Sherawat announced her willingness to stand against Vajpayee, who has been elected four consecutive times from Lucknow constituency in northern India, while on a promotion tour of her latest movie, Murder, the Indian Express reported.

Sherawat’s steamy skin flick Murder has set screens on fire with 90 per cent of seats sold in cinemas where it has been showing since it was released last Friday.

Murder, which was promoted as a skin flick and produced by Mahesh Bhatt at a cost of around 350 million rupees ($10.5 million), has notched up the best opening of the year so far, film analyst Indu Mirani said.