As cricket fever here reaches its zenith with the one-day triangular series drawing to a close, guess who is competing for popular attention - Rani Mukherjee.

While Rani's latest film "Paheli" with Shah Rukh Khan is being screened here, publicity is already building up for her next film with Aamir Khan "Mangal Pandey - The Rising" that releases Aug 12.

The Rani influence is not limited to her films in theatres or VCDs. She can be seen staring out of newspaper advertisements. A local cable and TV network company particularly uses her photographs in its advertisements on Hindi and Tamil films.

Other than Rani, Salman Khan and Sushmita Sen are occupying mindspace with their film "Maine Pya Kyun Kiya". Also being screened is the steamy "Girlfriend".

The Sri Lankan passion for Bollywood films extends to popular magazines like Filmfare, never mind that Hindi is not a language spoken in the island country.