Strangely, Mallika Sherawat turns down White House invite to host sunset party for film in France

Mallika Sherawat has already been seen at two events with the US President Barack Obama. She missed out on making strike three with an exclusive poetry reading session at the Presidential residence in Washington.

Reason? She will host a party to promote her film at Cannes on the same date.

And so, despite her professed love for poetry (the actress admits to being familiar with the verse of 13th century poet Amir Khusro, 19th century poet Mirza Ghalib and America's TS Eliot), work won this round.

A source close to the Hisss actress insists that for Madame M, her "professional commitments come first".

Hosting a sunset cocktail party for her Hollywood release, Politics of Love on Nikki Beach in Cannes was something she had committed to, months before.

So it was out with Obama and in with the French Riviera for the actress. She flew to the famed French town early today morning.

She notes, "It's always a pleasure to meet the most powerful man in the world and it's very special that I was invited amongst the 100 invitees.

But since the Cannes commitment was a prior one and the White House invite only came recently, I had to regretfully decline. I sent my apologies. I am looking forward to more invitations from him in the future."

FACT: On rare occasions, Mallika writes poetry.

NOT HER FIRST
Mallika and the President first met during Obama's Los Angeles visit for a fund-raiser held at Sony Studios. The two then caught up at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

WHAT WE THINK
Dear Mallika, the film has the US President's name in one of the tentative titles. In our book, being seen at his events makes more sense than going through an annual exercise in futility in France. We're sure the promoters of the film will agree!

CANNES CURSE?
Every film that festival-regular Mallika has promoted there has been followed up by a poor box-office run. First came The Myth, then Hisss. Will Love, Barack/Politics of Love follow suit or break the jinx?

PAST SHENANIGANS
As reported ('Personal Paparazzi'; April 22), Mallika got someone from her entourage to stand in as a fake paparazzo. Desperate times, eh?