She's a Barbie girl in a Barbie world - of sorts.But nobody could accuse Elise Jensen of living life wrapped in plastic.The 18-year-old Mt Kembla belle has set up base in Mumbai, India, after scoring a contract with a talent agency that feeds into the sequin-swathed Bollywood film industry.
Bollywood beckons: Elise gets passage to IndiaThe overseas adventure has the Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts graduate playing the plastic blonde Mattel doll and rubbing shoulders with the glitterati one minute, and on the fringes of some of the world's most abject poverty the next."At any one time you may be looking at a Bollywood star's luxury home while, next to it, you see people sleeping on the streets and begging for money," Miss Jensen told the Mercury in an email from Mumbai."I value everything I have here and back home so much more now that I've experienced the quality of living many Indian people have to endure."Miss Jensen's six-month contract - with talent firm Starlight Management - calls for a whirlwind existence of dance performances and film, TV, commercial and modelling auditions.The pace is so hectic that the chauffeur she and her housemates are provided for jobs arrives "seemingly at random, when we don't even know what for". Miss Jensen touched down in Mumbai in November and spent much of the month being flown between major cities in India, acting as a real-life Barbie doll to promote the blonde icon's 50th birthday."The job was perfect as I love children and am also a big fan of Barbie," Miss Jensen said."I would arrive in book stores, be seated on a stage and silently interact with the children, handing out prizes, encouraging smiles and laughter and posing for pictures with them and their families."Miss Jensen has appeared in promotional videos for an upcoming reality TV show to air on MTV, had a minor acting role in a film with Bollywood star Karina Kapoor and recently won a spot in an Indian ad for the shampoo brand Garnier Fructis.And there is a chance she will be hitting Australian screens if her first Bollywood foray - the post-September 11 drama Turban Victory - gains an international release.All of this is the source of much pride back in Mt Kembla, where mum Sandra Jensen checks her inbox regularly for updates. "I'm so proud of the courage she's shown in taking this on and the way she has handled some very challenging situations," Mrs Jensen said.
