Bond villain Toby Stephens and rumoured Bond 21 girl Aishwarya Rai to co-star in Bollywood film

Both the Hindustan Times and Rediff have confirmed news on a new Bollywood project with Bond connections.

Toby Stephens, who played Gustav Graves in "Die Another Day" will co-star with Aishwarya Rai in "The Rising".



A flurry of rumours, interviews and press spin back in April linked Aishwarya Rai to Bond 21 as the headline Bond Girl. She claimed to have been approached by agents working on behalf of Eon Productions - who later denied all links to the Bollywood superstar.

The script written by Farrukh Dhondy, is the story of Mangal Pandey and the first war of Indian Independence of 1857. Mehta has cannily snapped up some of the best names in the business: Music by AR Rahman and Nitin Desai as production designer. Capitol Films will distribute the film worldwide, and the British Film Council is likely to participate in the project.

A film both in Hindi and English, the shooting starts this month, and its release is timed with Independence Day next year.

After signing in Cannes, Aishwarya Rai, Aamir Khan and Rani Mukherjee were confirmed on the project directed by Ketan Mehta and produced by Bobby Bedi.

Mehta was in London in June scouting for a large British cast when he signed up Toby Stephens.

"Aishwarya Rai is doing a pivotal role, and Rani Mukherjee is doing an exciting cameo. It`s not a typical hierarchy - the actors are all very excited," he said with a sanguine air.

Thanks to BabyAngel for compiling the news.

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