Now a temple for actress Namitha

Jul 10, 2008 NR

Chennai, July 10 (IANS) A temple dedicated to popular south Indian actress Namitha is being built in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district and she is "thrilled and scared".

"I am both thrilled and scared because I find a temple built in honour of a living person - especially me - a little difficult to come to terms with," said Namitha, who gave hits like "Engal Anna" and "Arjuna Arjuna" in Tamil.

"The initial works are completed. Soon, the stone icon of Namitha will be installed and consecration done," said S. Selvam, secretary of her fan club.

Born May 10, 1981 as Namitha Kapoor in Surat in Gujarat, the actress has appeared in 35 movies in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. She also featured in an English film, "Maya".

When completed, it will be the second such temple in honour of an actress in Tamil Nadu. Tirunelveli district is about 600 km from Chennai.

Earlier, a temple was built in honour of Khushboo in Tiruchirappalli district but irate fans razed it following her controversial comments in 2005 about pre-marital sex and AIDS.

Khushboo was born a Muslim in 1970 and converted to Hinduism following her marriage to director-actor-producer Sundar C.