Slumdog Millionaire actor fascinated by Nepal

Actor Dev Patel, the teenager hero of the Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire is reportedly fascinated by Nepal. And now he"s received an invitation to visit the Himalayan republic from a leading Nepali hair stylist and make-up specialist. The guy is Maverick Neel David, who plans to open a chain of hair salons and already has three under his belt, including one in India.

It happened when Neel David bumped into the rising star during his training sojourn of film and television hair styles and make-up at the academy of noted makeup artiste Christine. David reportedly told Nepal Samacharpatra, a Nepal daily, "Patel, being of Indian origin, has a fascination for Nepal. He is busy right now but I am working on bringing him to Nepal on a visit."

The actor who recently won the Critics Choice Award and Screen Actors' Guild Award for his portrayal of Jamal Malik, the tea boy at a call centre who joins a quiz show and becomes a millionaire is not the only one celeb interested in Nepal. Richard Gere and Pirates of the Caribbean star Orlando Bloom, singers Sting and Cher have visited the Himalayan nation.

Slumdog Millionaire is currently being shown in Kathmandu's best-known cinema, Jai Nepal, which recently stopped the screening of the Bollywood flop Chandni Chowk to China and has been caught by the likes of Charles Sohbhraj who"s imprisoned in the country.

So it"s likely that Dev will get a very warm reception there.