Mumbai, Dec 2 (IANS): Bollywood actress Soha Ali Khan has come on board as the face of online ethnic marketplace Crafstvilla.com's Billion Mehndi Festival.

"I love mehndi (henna). I also love that Craftsvilla.com is doing so much to keep ethnic alive. It's very important for us to promulgate our culture for future generations. And yes, Im also submitting my entry for the festival," Soha said in a statement.

The Billion Mehndi Festival is an online gala dedicated to the country's ethnic 'temporary tattoo' art form.

As a part of it, henna artists from all over the country will be blogging on craftsvilla.com. There is a call for participation to men and women, who can upload their photographs with mehndi on the site. The three mehndi photographs that are liked the most, will win prizes upto Rs.1 lakh.

Monica Gupta, inceptor of the fest, said: "To me, the mehndi has always been sexier than tattoos. For one, it's completely natural. What's more important is that you are not stuck with it. You can change the design, as you evolve, which is not possible in the case of a tattoo. It's the coolest body art known to man.”

The Craftsvilla Billion Mehndi Festival is the third unique marketing activity being done by Craftsvilla.com. Also, this is not the first time that the platform has collaborated with an actress. They concluded the Craftsvilla Miss Ethnic with Kareena Kapoor Khan and celebrated World Ethnic Day with Vidya Balan.

Talking about the relevance of a henna fest, Manoj Gupta of Craftsvilla.com, said: “Mehndi has an integrated national appeal in India, and is a bridge between the traditional and the modern."