Bollywood Baddy
Gulshan Grover, although almost unknown to Western audiences, is a huge star in Bollywood and is famous for playing villains and bad guys. The 50 year-old Indian-born actor has met with USA casting agents for the 21st 007 film, "Casino Royale", due out in 2006.

Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins, who always works as a pair, are in Los Angeles casting for "Casino Royale". The duo have working on past Bond films including "Octopussy" (1983), "A View To A Kill" (1985), "Licence To Kill" (1989), "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997) and "Die Another Day" (2002), and are now casting for director Martin Campbell's second film, following up from his 1995 debut outing "GoldenEye".

Gulshan Grover has met with Hirshenson and Jenkins over the past couple of week in Los Angeles and is said to be very close to securing a role. When pressed on the issue, Grover said he did not want to comment until things are definite, "But if given an opportunity I’ll grab the role and make India proud", he said.

Rai Rumours
The wave of Bollywood rumours first started after "Die Another Day" and centred around one actress - Aishwarya Rai.

The Indian actress, often dubbed the most beautiful woman in the world, was linked in several ways with the 21st James Bond film.

Aishwarya cleared up the rumours last year. She said, "I did meet the people who wanted to cast me in the Bond film, so I put them to my agents. They told me that if they used an Asian character they would come to me. They were scripting the role at the time. Since then, I have not been contacted."