It's the battle of the it girls – one being a socialite, and the other putting the IT in item girl. Yes, we're talking about media darlings Paris Hilton and Rakhi Sawant. The duo have dominated the headlines recently; what with Hilton coming to Dubai to find a best friend and Sawant currently looking for a husband on a reality television show.

Hilton has the famous name and the connections but Sawant is a household name for India's 1.1 billion population; plus, most of rural India only associates Hilton with a hotel chain, while some don't even care.

So if the two personalities had to face off, who's savvy enough to remain in the limelight for years to come? Emirates Business pits the two against each other.

Paris Hilton

Claim to fame

Paris Hilton began modelling as a child, and at aged 19, signed with modelling agency, T Management before moving onto other agencies.

In 2001, the blonde started to build a reputation as a socialite, but shot to fame three years later when an x-rated video of her with ex-boyfriend Rick Salomon was leaked onto the internet. It was later released on DVD as 1 Night in Paris, hosted by Salomon. Clearly inheriting good business genes, Hilton sued Salomon, but the suit was settled when she was offered $400,000 (Dh1.4 million) and a percentage of the DVD's profits.

Brand building

Don't let the cute, dumb blonde act fool you. She may be known as being "famous for being famous", but business-wise, Hilton has achieved more than most celebs her age.

It started out with her reality TV series with former friend Nicole Richie, The Simple Life, which subsequently built her younger teen girl fanbase. After falling out with Richie, Hilton returned with her own show My New BFF, with the heiress looking for a new best friend forever. So far, four seasons have been produced; the most recent in Dubai, which is set to air at the end of the year. Hilton has also bagged roles on the big screen, in films such as House of Wax and Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Then there's a singing career. She founded Heiress Records in 2004 and released a self-titled album in 2006. She is working on a second album. And she also writes books, including Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose.

If that's not enough, Hilton works on a range of other products, comprising handbags, jewellery, perfume, hair extensions and womenswear. Here, she launched her store, Paris Hilton at Festival City, as well as her collection at Salam, Wafi.

Asset management

According to the plastic surgery website Makemeheal.com, Hilton underwent two nose jobs; one in 2001 and the second in 2004. She is also said to have undergone eyelid surgery to lift her eyelids, but the muscles of her left eye were damaged during the procedure, leading to her droopy left eyelid. She is apparently planning another operation to correct this.

Network

She has a strong network of family members. She is the daughter of Richard and Kathy Hilton, and her grandfather is Barron Hilton whose parents were Hilton Hotels' founder Conrad Hilton and Mary Barron.

Hilton was friends with Nicole Richie and Kim Kardashian, and went to school with Lady Gaga. She has had many famous boyfriends including Greek shipping heirs Paris Latsis and Stavros Niarchos III, as well as Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden.

Liabilities

Fame comes at a price, and everything Hilton does gets reported instantly. Her most well-known incident is when she was sent to prison for 45 days for violating her probation on a DUI offence. The heiress has also been robbed twice. In 2004, her beloved dog, Tinkerbell was stolen, but was found six days later. Then in 2008, her LA home was broken into and $2m worth of items were stolen.

Future prospects

The world is Hilton's oyster at the moment, and we reported on the frenzy surrounding her trip to Dubai, everybody wants a piece of Paris.

While it remains to be seen what Hilton is going to come up with next, the star has expressed interest in investing in property in the UAE. She also wants to do versions of MY New BFF show in Canada, Australia and Europe, which will expand her brand in those regions. However, we reckon she should travel to areas such as India, where even bigger business could be made. Perhaps she and Sawant could join forces in the future..


Rakhi Sawant

Claim to fame

The rags-to-riches story of Rakhi Sawant could bring a tear to your eye. After allegedly being forced to have sex with a male relative for money, aged 12, to save her mother's life, Sawant realised early on that the weak have no place in this world. By the time she hit her teens, she had turned into a brazen woman, raising eyebrows in risqué pop videos and Bollywood dance numbers, such as the superhit bikini-clad item song from 2003's Chura Liya Hai Tumne.

She later set her sights on TV and stormed onto Sony Entertainment Television's Bigg Boss reality show in 2006, based on the United Kingdom's Celebrity Big Brother. Fans loved her so much that after being voted out by her housemates, she was brought back by an audience poll.

Brand building

Bollywood actress Neha Dhupia once said only sex and Shah Rukh Khan sell in India. Sawant apparently took this to heart by slipping into skimpy clothes and, er, not much else, to brand herself into a sultry diva; a sex video like Paris Hilton's was not possible in conservative India.

Big Boss was a stepping stone for Sawant, who later that year did what most struggling celebrities do: release a pop music album; unfortunately for her, Supergirl didn't have much power.

As India's fascination with reality TV grew in 2007, the ever-savvy Sawant danced her way into Star Plus's Nach Baliye. She continued her run on the idiot box with Zoom TV's The Rakhi Sawant Show, where she chatted to Bollywood stars.

The next move was to host a show like Hilton's. Rakhi Ka Swayamvar tore a page out of the American socialite's My New BFF book and took the concept further by forgoing a new friend for a husband. The NDTV Imagine show has posted record viewership, even resulting in an online game. Meanwhile, celebrity designer Farah Ali Khan is creating a necklace worth Rs3 million (Dh224,000) for Sawant on her wedding day; the bridal outfit is being designed by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's favourite, Neeta Lulla. It seems Sawant has arrived.

Asset management

Showbiz is all about image building, and Sawant realised this a lot earlier than most. Rumoured to have had 55 plastic surgeries to enhance her assets, the 30-year-old was outed by pop rival Nandinii Jumani, aka Krazy Kat, who recently said at a press conference: "Rakhi is fake... she has plastic surgery done on her face, 55 jobs, to enhance her physique and wears clothes and opens her mouth for effect."

When Sawant was quizzed about turning into Miz Plastic Fantastic, she said: "No human can undergo that many plastic surgeries. I've had a breast surgery done, but had them removed when I went on Nach Baliye because they hurt while dancing."

Network

It can be quite lonely at the top and Sawant has repeatedly said that people have used her name and fame to get ahead in their careers, including former boyfriend Abhishek Awasthi.

Sawant does count director-producer Karan Johar as a close friend. Yet, their relationship seems limited to appearances on each other's chat shows: Sawant appeared on Johar's Koffee With Karan and Johar jumped on her couch in The Rakhi Sawant Show. Yes, we see a mutual admiration society here.

Liabilities

Sawant has courted controversy from the moment she stepped into Bollywood. Her checkered past includes dancing at bachelor parties and stripping on TV – albeit under a bed sheet.

Then came the Mika kiss controversy when the singer forced himself on Sawant at his birthday party in 2006. She lodged a complaint against him but the case fizzled out.

Now her media madness has brought her on international TV to find a husband. But insiders say this is yet another publicity stunt. Can Sawant ever get public approval?

Future prospects

Indian actresses have long struggled with the stereotype that an audience lose interest in married stars.

Will Sawant suffer the same fate? And does she even care?

We can't answer on the former, but a look at her TV show sees a much more demure Sawant. Her loud and skimpy outfits have made way for traditional Indian dresses, making critics remark that Bollywood item songs may just have lost their reigning queen.


The verdict

In this celebrity deathmatch, Paris Hilton clearly emerges victorious thanks to her Hilton name and connections, which have resulted in the success of her TV?show and the fashion brand; can't say the same about her films or her music though.

But we doubt the heiress would have survived the mean streets of Mumbai and raised her name in the spotlight like Rakhi Sawant has from the slums.

So by popular vote in the Emirates Business offices, Sawant gets the special Slumdog Millionaire prize. That should count for something.

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