A legend returns

All eyes will be on Petchara Chaowarat tomorrow when the veteran star makes her return to TV screens as honorary presenter for the Mistine cosmetics brand.

After blindness seemingly ended her career more than 30 years ago, the "actress with the puppy-dog eyes" is making her comeback with a Bt70-million campaign for the "Diamond" lipstick collection.

Stage fright

"It is not easy for a famous actress to return to the limelight after so long. She told us she's worried about being ignored because her looks have changed so much," said Danai Derojanawong, managing director of Better Way, which owns the Mistine brand.

Petchara says the comeback will be a one-off to help her charity work for the blind. Her decision was made easier when the company agreed to give a percentage of the lipstick's sales revenue to the Thailand Association for the Blind.

A special goodbye

Danai said that as this will be the last time we see Petchara on our screens, the company has created something special to remember her by. "We want to bring down the curtain on this legend's career with a commercial that becomes the talk of the town."

Better Way are making a habit of breaking records with budgets for adverts with a social conscience. Last year they spent Bt100 million on "To Be Number 1", which tagged a drug-prevention message onto the launch of a limited-edition lipstick in a campaign that starred Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya.

In addition to her TV campaign, an exhibition based on the 20 things Petchara most values in life is running at CentralWorld shopping complex in Bangkok.

Tomorrow will be the first time viewers see Petchara's face since she gave up appearing in public three decades ago. Confirming that she is still an extraordinary beauty, makeup artist Apichart Norsetthaporn says it will be the highlight of his career to work with such a screen legend.