BOMBAY (Reuters) - Pop stars Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez have some pretty unusual competition on Indian television: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee .

The 77-year-old premier dressed in a traditional sarong is currently all over funky music channels such as MTV with a brooding Hindi music video based on one of his poems.

The video has shots of a pensive-looking Vajpayee sometimes writing at his desk, sometimes gazing forlornly out of a window or strolling in a shadowy room melting into scenes with a co-star in a desert or walking in snowfall.

Directed by blockbuster filmmaker Yash Chopra, the video features top Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan in stark, barren landscapes reflecting the pathos of the poem, 'Kya Khoya Kya Paya'.

'The poem is very sad and emotional. The prime minister knew his poem and he understood what we wanted,' said Chopra, adding that he filmed Vajpayee portraying the different moods in less than two hours.

The filmmaker said he chose Khan, who has a huge fan following among Indians both in and outside the country, since he found the actor 'the finest to emote pain'.

Six poems penned by Vajpayee, well known for his simple yet evocative verses, have also been compiled by leading music company Saregama India Limited into an album titled 'Samvedna' (Sensitivity), which includes 'Kya Khoya Kya Paya'.

The title reflects a rare quality of the poet-prime minister, a seasoned politician occasionally given to emotional outbursts in trying situations.

He has often been criticised by his allies and people from right wing Hindu groups ideologically similar to his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for being too 'soft'.

It was this 'soft' side that prompted him to travel by bus three years ago to arch-rival Pakistan as a gesture of friendship.

Vajpayee -- once with a reputation as a fiery and mesmerising orator -- has often joked he would have been better off as a poet than a politician.

The latest album is the third compilation of the prime minister's poems launched by Saregama in four years.

By Maria Abraham, Reuters