/> 70 and still going very strong. The last time the inimitable Roshan Seth, still remembered best for his role as Nehru in Attenborough's Gandhi, was seen in a Hindi film was in a brief cameo in Mani Ratnam's Guru 6 years ago.

Roshan Seth now returns in Kabir Khan's Ek Tha Tiger as Salman's mentor and guide.

Says a source close to the project, "Roshan Seth has lately been doing very little acting work, and by choice. Besides Guru he has not done a single Hindi film in ages, and certainly not a mainstream commercial film."

Apparently it was Seth's long-standing relationship with Kabir Khan that did the trick this time.

Says the source, "Roshan Seth and Kabir Khan go back a long way.And Seth has done the voiceover for every single documentary that Kabir Khan has made. And yes, we mean every single documentary.

When Kabir turned feature-film director with Kabul Express he again went to Roshan Seth to do the voiceover. Now when there was an acting role in Ek Tha Tiger which Kabir felt only Roshan Seth could do justice to, there was no way Seth could say no to the director."

Apparently most of Seth's scenes are with Salman.

Says our source, "Salman and Roshan Seth belonging to two completely different schools of acting, hit it off beautifully. The vibes will show on screen."

Kabir Khan remained unavailable for comment.