Mobile gaming has taken a brand new turn as conceptualisers have begun to design more and more games based on Indian celebrities.

At first most of the games were based on films, but now iconic celebrity games are the flavour of the season. What's more, the icons are winning over not only gamers, but non-gamers as well. "I absolutely love celebrity games, they are fun to play and kind of give us a sneak peek into the personal lives of the celebs we adore," says marketing executive and avid gamer Keerat Jain.

"Whether it's an action packed game featuring Vin Diesel or Jean Claude Van Damme, or a cricket game featuring Sachin Tendulkar, I'd play them all."

Hot and sultry Priyanka Chopra, sexy siren Bipasha Basu, charming singer Shaan, tall, dark and handsome R Madhavan... you can download all these celebs on your cell phones and help them win through the trials and tribulations that gaming companies put them through.

Icons and more
Gaming companies like Mauj, mobile2win and Jump Games have all played a big part in the creation of celebrity games. Creating racier and edgier games that have huge selling power has become essential.

"Stars have their own aura that they extend into the games. We want to highlight this as well as their own attitudes," says Salil Bharghav, CEO, Jump Games. "So we always try and ensure that, when we create games based on stars, we recreate their attitude and persona correctly."

For example, AquaDiva, the game starring Malaika Arora Khan, is a water-based game on the lines of the international game, Bejeweled. AquaDiva features colourful sea creatures in stead of gems because that Malaika is a complete water baby .

"Gaming gave me a whole new medium to explore. I felt that it would be rather cool to have a game based on me," says model-cum-item girl Malaika. "When I was approached with the concept, I just felt that it had to be based in water since that's the one part of me my fans haven't seen."

Game, set and match
Celebrity games are a sure fire way to convert non-gamers into gamers. From thrilling arcade games to puzzles and action and adventure games, celeb games now come in many avatars.

"Bollywood has always fascinated me and I have collected all sorts of Bollywood-related mobile content including wallpapers and ring tones."

"Celebrity games are totally my cup of tea," says Sharad Kapoor, lawyer. "

And Bipasha is one of my favourite actresses so of course I must have her game."

According to Rajiv Hiranan dani, co-founder of mobile2win, celebrity games are meant to attract the attention of gamers to the full extent that the celeb him self or herself appeals to the audience.

"Every time we cre ate a new game, our challenge is to attract more enthusiasts and it doesn't matter if they are novice gamers or not. As long as the game is good, the reach will be that much wider," he says.