Bond villain to star in Bollywood film

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript" src="Config?Configid=43376741"></script></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="77.5%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><a href="javascript:popUp(&quot1;photopop?msid=123560&type=0&quot1;)"> <img border="0" align="left" src="/cms.dll/thumb?height=259&width=259&photoID=123560" hspace="12"" /></a></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">Click on image for more</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">MUMBAI: The chiselled featured Toby Stephens, who attracted attention by his sterling performance as a cold-blooded villain Gustav Graces in the latest James Bond flick <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Die Another Day</span>, will now team up with Indian actor Aamir Khan in the Bollywood film <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Rising</span>.<br /><br />Thirtyfour-year-old Stephens, a trained actor from the Royal Shakespeare Company, would play the role of a British commanding officer William Gordon, who is rescued by heroic sepoy Mangal Pandey, played by Aamir, industry sources said.<br /><br />Directed by Ketan Mehta, the film is an epic tale of friendship and betrayal, set against the backdrop of the 1857 Mutiny and revolves around the friendship of Gordon and Pandey.<br /><br />The friendship is soured by the introduction of the new gun rifle, which contains greased casing, made from animal fat, and Gordon''s false promise that the bullets were fat free.The film, produced by Bobby Bedi, captures Pandey leading the historic mutiny and a friendship betrayed.<br /><br />Stephens would be arriving in October to shoot for the film and would be in the country till March, the sources said.<br /><br />He has reportedly accepted to play the role after being swept by the script and going by his impression on Bollywood through the film Bandit Queen.<br /><br />The actor, who recently played Kim Philby in the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">BBC </span>TV series <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">The Cambridge Spies</span> has been taking a few lessons in Hindi, the sources said adding, he is also reading books on the Mutiny to understand the historic event. William Dalrymple''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">White Mughuls</span> and Saul David''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Indian Mutiny</span> are among the books he is reading.<br /><br />Actress Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee would feature in the film, which has music composed by A R Rehman.</div> </div>