When bad news is good news...

you know how girls talk. about their crushes on good-looking men. in the last month, there's only one name that's been heard loud and clear and that's fardeen khan. he's hot, he's sexy and the girls just love him. provogue, which just signed him for a rs 2 crore contract as their brand ambassador, perhaps feels the same about him. why else would they discard a john abraham or not prefer a hrithik roshan? the coke scandal that made him infamous is now taking him on a new high.he's a heartthrob, alright. this is a worldwide phenomenon. sometimes, small-time celebrities become very famous after becoming notoriously infamous. look at mamta kulkarni. a struggling actress, she went and posed almost nude with just her bare arms covering her top, and boy! she became bollywood's hot new siren. or sanjay dutt. this actor went through a lot, but today, if he reflects back he might just think it was worth it. ditto mohammad azharuddin. he was always a wonderful player but it was only when he defied all monogamy and fidelity laws that he saw superfame. he was endorsing products left, right and centre. the armani-flashing man, with his beautiful second wife draped on his arm, became an instant super-celeb. boris becker and mike tyson, too, pretty much fall under this category. after tyson bit off evander holyfield's ear in frustration and got accused for alleged molestation, his fans fought to see his fights. another classic example is vanessa williams. she stripped for playboy and the beauty queen was stripped off her crown. but that was not to be her swan song. the controversy made her a pop diva. how does it work? is a scandal the easiest short-cut to celebrityhood? psychiatrist bharat shah thinks it's about people being able to relate to people. ''whenever a celeb gets involved in a scandal, people start looking at him as another fellow human being and not someone who is superhuman. sympathy then is natural.'' from zeros to heroes, all it takes is a bit of notoriety to hit the highway of success. for, to reinvent newton in these changing times, it appears that anyone who touches rock-bottom does finally make it to the top!