[Photo: The website has a software that compares the faces of users to those of Indian celebrities like Aishwarya Rai.]

FANCY dating someone who looks like Aishwarya Rai?

Or Shah Rukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan? Or perhaps you prefer the roguish looks of Sanjay Dutt?

One of India's biggest dating sites now allows you to do just that.

Bharat Matrimony offers registered users a special 'facial search' software that scans the features of its 15 million users.

Some may call it superficial but the site's operators say it is simply trying to be practical.

Mr Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO of Consim Info, which owns the site, said: 'This is an additional feature to match faces for people who have a certain look in mind and want to get some approximation of that.'

And for a society where social standing matters, Mr Janikiraman claims the site has already helped men and women find spouses of the same caste, religion and background.

But it doesn't mean users have the freedom to type in any celebrity they wish.

You can't search for an Indian version of Julia Roberts or Brad Pitt. Instead, users are restricted to the site's gallery of leading Indian celebrities to pick from.

The feature is definitely a draw for car salesman Ashish Kumar.

Attractive feature

He said: 'I'm going to try it because the photos I've seen are hideous. If any girl on the site bears even a passing resemblance to (leading Bollywood actress) Priyanka Chopra, I want to know about it right now.'

So whose face is the most requested?

The site's operators say it varies with topicality.

Aishwarya, a former Miss World winner, topped the list until a new film came out recently starring a debutante actress, who briefly displaced her.

Among the men, when Abhinav Bindra, who won the Olympic gold medal in shooting, was in the news recently, his face was chosen by hundreds of users.

Of late, the face du jour has been that of Slumdog Millionaire music composer A R Rahman, who isn't as conventionally good-looking as the typical Bollywood heartthrob.

The software used by Bharat Matrimony is similar to that used by police forces around the world.

It works by measuring distances between facial features and then identifying users on the site who bear a resemblance, no matter how tenuous.

Which is why the matches aren't always perfect.

Said disappointed call centre worker Nisha Patel: 'I chose actor John Abraham because he's a gorgeous hunk, but the guys who were thrown up didn't look anything like him.'

The site's operators also caution that it only does a face match, not a body match.

So even if you get someone with Aishwarya's face, she may not have her curvaceous figure.

This article was first published in The New Paper.