Miss World considering Bollywood?

　　NEW DELHI—India's Priyanka Chopra, who was crowned Miss World 2000 last month, said on Monday she would be open to taking a Bollywood movie role if the right one came along.

　　The 18-year-old student, dressed in an elegant red saree, smiled serenely at a homecoming news conference as photographers and cameramen jostled and barked at ea ch other for half an hour in front of her.

　　And she kept her composure when quizzed about the g affes she made that night in London's Millennium Dome, where she won $100, 000 and a year of instant fame.

　　Chopra, the fifth Indian woman to capture the covet ed crown, had told Miss World judges that Mother Teresa —who died three years ago —was the "living" woman she m ost admired.

　　She had also said that her country's population was two billion, when in fact it is about half that number.

　　Chopra, in her defense, said that Nobel peace laure ate Mother Teresa was a living legend and "she does liv e on for me."

　　The organizers of the news conference also sought t o explain her error on India's population, saying that what she had in mind were two billion hands raised to h ail her triumph.

　　Asked if she had considered a career in India's gli tzy Bollywood movie world, Chopra said: "Yes, I've thou ght about it, and if a good offer comes I'll take it."

　　But she said politics was not her "cup of tea."

　　The beauty queen, who cut a giant crown-shaped choc olate cake at the end of her news conference, chose to tread carefully on the ban imposed by the chief ministe r of her home state on beauty contests.

　　Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh last wee k branded such pageants "an exhibition of the female bo dy," and slammed multinational cosmetic companies for p ushing Indian beauty queens at contests to capture the growing Indian market.

　　"You have a right to your opinion," Chopra said. "I would request you to consider this decision."

　　(Reuters)