AP

Mumbai, Jun 22: Indian actress Bipasha Basu was so thrilled to be named one of the hosts of next month's "New 7 Wonders of the World" event in Lisbon, Portugal, that she got contact lenses so she could read her lines.

The thought of having to read from a teleprompter at the globally telecast event finally pushed her to deal with her myopia or nearsightedness, the Bollywood heartthrob told The Times of India newspaper in an interview published Thursday.

"This is the first time that the seven wonders are being reconsidered. To be part of this is to be part of history," said Basu. "And I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world, certainly not for being shortsighted."

More than 50 million people have already cast their votes in the massive global poll. In the top 10 are Greece's Acropolis, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, Paris' Eiffel Tower, Brazil's Statue of Christ The Redeemer, India's Taj Mahal and Jordan's Petra.

The Egyptian pyramids are the only surviving structures from the original list of seven architectural marvels.

Basu said she would be honored and flattered to share the stage with Hollywood stars Ben Kingsley and Hillary Swank, also scheduled to speak at the function on July 7.

"I've got myself contact lenses. All these years I stubbornly resisted them," Basu told the newspaper.

Model-turned-actresss Basu has acted in more than 22 movies since she entered the movie industry five years ago.

Her recent hit films include "Dhoom 2," or "Big Bang 2," a Bollywood version of Shakespeare's Othello called "Omkara," and "Corporate."

She is dating Bollywood leading man John Abraham.