Bihar is suddenly the focus of Bollywood in a major way.

Even while Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav prepares to make a very special guest appearance in Mahesh Manjrekar's film, "Padmashri Lalu Prasad Yadav", Prakash Jha is all set to direct Ajay Devgan in "Apaharan", a film on the 'kidnapping industry' in Bihar.

This isn't the first film in which Devgan plays a Bihari. In Rituparno Ghosh's Hindi film "Raincoat" he plays a Bihar migrant looking for his lost love in Kolkata. Aishwarya Rai, in her own words, plays "a plumpish Bihari housewife in Kolkata" in the same movie.

Five years ago, Amitabh Bachchan had played a Bihari do-gooder in K.C. Bokadia's "Lal Badshah". Today his son Abhishek Bachchan plays a Bihari in as many as three films. After Mani Rathnam's "Yuva" where he starred as a Bihari hit man, Abhishek Bachchan stars as an idol-maker from Bihar in "Raincoat". Abhishek also plays a Bihari in Aparna Sen's first Hindi film "Gulel".

Says Abhishek: "I don't know how it happened. These Bihari roles are just a coincidence. But yeah, I guess you can call it my Bihari trilogy."

And that isn't all. In his new Hindi film "Ramji London Wale", Tamil superstar Madhavan plays a Bihari cook whose escapades in London form the crux of the tale. Says Madhavan: "I'm basically from Jamshedpur. 'Ramji London Wale' is my tribute to my home."