Ileana soars high as ITC brand ambassador

Ileana's flag is flying high these days! Not only has she been signed up as the brand ambassador for the ITC group (she will be the face of ITC in South India) but also she will be starring as Venkatesh's love interest in his next flick.

After Jalsa, Ileana took a long sabbatical and now she is on a film signing spree to make up for lost time. She has three big films in hand. The first is opposite Ravi Teja under Surender Reddy's direction. The second is opposite Junior NTR to be directed by V. Y. S. Choudhary. The third film is Saleem, starring Vishnu, Mohan Babu's son. And now, she has bagged a Venkatesh starrer, which will be directed by Srinu Vaitla and produced by Suresh Babu and Giri (Sye). The film is expected to start filming in January 2009.

She was recently in the news in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu for having turned down a chance to star in the Rajnikanth animation flick, Sultan-The Warrior. Though, the official version is that Ileana turned the movie down as it was only an animated feature, insiders say that her fee of Rs. 1 crore put off the film's makers.