Steffi Graf is Kerala's Ayurveda brand ambassador

Thiruvananthapuram: Tennis legend Steffi Graf will be the Kerala Tourism’s brand ambassador for ayurveda. A Rs 3.96-crore two-year package has been worked out with her and she would make a five-day visit to the state in the middle of July. This comes after Kerala Tourism had earlier failed to rope in superstars Jackie Chan and Amitabh Bachchan and a still-born proposal to cash in on Brazil superstar Neymar’s back injury during World Cup 2014.

The cabinet on Wednesday granted sanction to the tourism department to enter into a formal agreement with Steffi Graf, 46. Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar said that during Graf’s visit, a series of ayurveda-related ad campaigns would be shot in various tourism destinations in the state.

The German-born Graf would also travel to European countries as Kerala ayurveda’s brand ambassador during her contract period. It was a Malayali central bureaucrat who opened the channel of discussion with Graf. Further discussions took place after the bureaucrat told the minister that Graf was open to the idea. It is also said that Graf had made several secret trips to Kerala in the last few years. Until Graf came along, Kerala Tourism had suffered a series of heartburns in its pursuit to find a brand ambassador.

Jackie Chan, who was said to be a frequent visitor to the backwaters of Kumarakom, had declined the offer in 2005. A year later, Amitabh Bachchan was approached during the filming of Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Nishabd’ in Munnar. But a deal could not be struck. However, in 2010, Bachchan himself expressed a desire to work as Kerala’s brand ambassador through an interview to a private news channel. The then CPM-led government jumped at the chance and promptly wrote to the superstar. But the CPM central leadership shot down the idea saying that Bachchan was already doing the job for Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.