Bond Goes to Bollywood for Love As Well As Money

A commercial and creative meeting of the popular culture of the East and the West is destined to make 'Bond 21' the most lucrative James Bond adventure of all time.

Pierce Brosnan's co-star for his fifth outing in the role now looks likely to be drawn from the ranks of top Bollywood talent.

The former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, who is already a huge star in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the movie-making capital of the Indian subcontinent, may well become the first Indian actress to star as a Bond girl, according to reports in India.

Casting agents working on the new film for the Pinewood-based Bond film company, Eon Productions, have been travelling around India to meet and watch rival talents at work.

Rai's secretary Hari Singh, who has been on set with her for the filming of her latest project, Rajkumar Santoshi's Khaki with co-star Amitabh Bachchan, has confirmed that the 'unbelievable' approach has been made. Although the actress is currently in the Hinduja hospital in Mumbai having injured her toe during filming near Nashik, Singh has said that the production deadlines could still be worked out.

Bond 21 is due to start filming this summer, in prompt succession to Bond 20, or Die Another Day which came out last November and earned more than £400 million at the international box office. The film, which also starred Oscar winner Halle Berry as the American agent Jinx, has beaten Brosnan's The World Is Not Enough by more than £50m. And still it goes on. This February the film took £1.2m on its opening weekend in Italy, the best-ever return on a Bond picture.

Keen to capitalise on the moment, Eon Productions have secured the services of their 49-year-old, Irish leading man from August and booked the sound stages at Pinewood Studios from the end of the year.

Casting directors will be looking at the work of other leading Bollywood stars too, including Priyanka Chopra, another former Miss World, who recently starred in the film Andaaz with yet another contender and model-turned-actress, Lara Dutta. Dutta is a former Miss Universe, so the competition for the chance to appear with Brosnan is intense. The young star of the film The Hero, Preity Zinta, is also thought to have caught the eye of Western producers.

Whoever is chosen, cultural differences may dictate a change in style for the Bond screenwriters, as actresses with a career in Bollywood ahead of them may not want to appear scantily clad or in bed with Bond.

Rai is still the current favourite and her secretary has been quoted as confirming her interest in the 'unbelievably grand project'.

'Yes, for Aishwarya, it's something unbelievable,' he said. 'An international coordinating agency has approached us on behalf of the studio making the Bond movies.

'They were waiting on the sets and watching the rehearsals, with Aishwarya, Amitabh Bachchan and others,' adds Singh. 'They are keen to cast her. Let's see what Aishwarya has to say. We'd have to rework our earlier schedules.'

The actress is also at the centre of a fiery Bollywood scandal after she refused to work again with her former boyfriend, the actor Salman Khan. On Friday Khan would not speak to Mumbai reporters who quizzed him about Rai and the actor Vivek Oberoi, who accused Khan of threatening him at the beginning of this month.

Khan, who has a reputation as Bollywood's 'superbrat', allegedly suspects Oberoi of having an affair with Rai and in response to the suggestion Oberoi called a press conference during which he claimed that Khan had threatened to kill him.

The much sought-after Rai has since admitted that Khan has bombarded her with messages since their split, but she claims she is indifferent. Oberoi meanwhile has accused Khan of being 'mentally sick'.

Further contenders for the role of Bondgirl 21 include the British singer Sophie Ellis Bextor who was hotly tipped for a part last time around.