When Communist activist Brinda Karat showed up in the pivotal role of Konkona Sensharma's mother in "Amu", many thought it was an indulgence she could ill afford.

"But Brinda Karat is a trained actress. She has done a lot of theatre in the past before politics beckoned. She was chosen because she was right for the part," protests the film's director Shonali Bose.

"In fact, real-life politicians and other celebrities can be very uncomfortable doing what comes naturally to them. Subhashini Ali who had a walk-on part as an activist in my film was ill-at-ease doing her bit."

Coincidentally, on the same day that Karat made her screen debut, another non-showbiz celebrity, ad man and socialite Suhel Seth also appeared in the whodunit "Rog".

In both the releases Jan 21, real-life celebrities who have nothing to with acting or movies were seen in walk-on parts.

In Madhur Bhandarkar's hard-hitting "Page 3", socialite and mediaperson Dolly Thakore is cast as an acerbic writer whose novels sell for their sex. There're other interesting cameos by real-life celebrities playing party-hopping animals in Bhandarkar's film.

In Subhash Ghai's "Kisna", the well-known contemporary danseuse Daksha Sheth makes an appearance at the end as her own daughter Isha Sharvani's mother.

Says Ghai: "I wasn't at all using Daksha Sheth's (status as a) celebrity in my film. It's just that she looks more like her daughter's mother than anyone else."

Whatever the reason for it, non-film celebrities whose faces are familiar in newspapers and on television are gravitating towards cinema more to assert their own success value than to fulfil any burning ambitions as an actor.

More films in the coming months will resort to creating realism by inviting known names to appear in films. Zoya Khan's "Luck By Chance" will feature known faces from journalism in cameos.

But before that politician Laloo Prasad has made his big-screen debut in Mahesh Manjrekar's "Padmashri Laloo Prasad Yadav". All the hoardings of the film spotlight the comedy's USP, namely the media-friendly politician from Bihar over and above the actual stars in the film.

Last year, cricketer Kapil Dev had appeared as himself in a film featuring Sohail Khan and in a television serial. He denied any starry ambitions though.

But the fact is that celebrities from outside show-world don't mind being pressed into service on celluloid as long as they aren't required to do anything embarrassing.