L'Oreal has signed Aishwarya Rai as its new international brand ambassador.

A L'Oreal India spokesperson said Rai has been selected to 'provide an Indian face to our global team as she is considered a truly international and top-of-the-line model.'

The global cosmetics major previously featured supermodels and actresses like Laetitia Casta, Andie MacDowell, Milla Jovovich, Noemie Lenoir and Catherine Deneuve.

Rai signs Priyanka

Priyanka Chopra will play the female lead opposite Arjun Rampal in Rajiv Rai's forthcoming project. The film will also star Dipannita Sharma (16 December), Paresh Rawal and Naseeruddin Shah. Esha Deol was Rai's first choice for Priyanka's role.

Netanya steps in Aarti's shoes

Model-turned-actress Netanya Singh (who will debut in Partho Ghosh's Surya opposite Milind Soman) will star opposite model-turned-actor Anuj Sawhney in Imtiaz Punjabi's directorial debut, Funtoosh.

The mahurat was held on April 21 at Film City in suburban Mumbai. Viveck Vaswani has been signed on as the film's creative consultant.

Santoshi goes location hunting

Director Rajkumar Santoshi will fly to the UK, Canada and US this month to hunt for a suitable location for Khaki. He will be accompanied by producer Keshu Ramsay. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai, Tusshar Kapoor and Tanuja.

Shamita's new role

Shamita Shetty will be seen as an air force pilot in Sunjiv Puri's Agni Pankh. Puri had earlier scripted and directed the television serial, Tujhpe Dil Qurban, based on the Indian army. The film has no romantic or item numbers picturised on Shamita.

Says she, "It is a challenging role. I play Anjana, a woman doing a man's job in a man's world."

Viveck Vaswani is, yet again, the film's creative consultant. The rest of the cast includes Jimmy Shergill, Rahul Dev, Akshay Anand, Benjamin Gilani, Richa Pallod, Divya Dutta and Sameer Dharmadhikari.