Foreign actors head to India seeking Bollywood break Foreign actors are grasping opportunities to play major roles in the traditionally insular Hindi film industry as a new generation of film-makers explore issues beyond the typical song-and-dance filled epics of the past. From playing callous colonial authority figures from India's past or prostitutes, white foreigners are now being offered a far greater breadth of parts as the world's most prolific movie-making industry grows still bigger.

Foreigners have featured in Bollywood films for decades but generally in minor roles. However British actor Toby Stephens triggered a new foreign invasion when he played the main supporting role in the 2005 film "The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey", about the 1857 Indian uprising against the British.

"Bollywood is suddenly being taken seriously by Western actors," says Taran Adarsh, a Bollywood trade analyst. "There was a perception that Bollywood was a very downmarket industry but that perception has changed in the last three to four years."

Stephens, a villain in the 2002 James Bond movie "Die Another Day", received rave reviews in India for his performance as an army officer that some said overshadowed Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan who played the main lead.

He was followed into the fray by Tania Zaetta, an Australian actress, who appeared in two of last year's biggest Bollywood blockbusters Bunty Aur Babli (Bunty and Babli) and Salaam Namaste (Welcome).

And Alice Patten, a British actress and the daughter of Chris Patten, the last governor of one of Britain's other former colonial territories, Hong Kong, appeared in this year's biggest Bollywood hit so far 'Rang de Basanti' ('Colour me Saffron'), also starring Aamir Khan.

Patten, who plays an idealistic movie-maker, broke usual conventions in her debut film by speaking her lines in Hindi, unlike most foreign actors whose lines are dubbed from English.

"The movie industry is becoming increasingly global and is one of the reasons why actors from Asia are finding roles in Western films and vice versa," she told.

"I felt if I could emote my feelings in the language of Bollywood then I was sure I would be able to do much better emotional scenes in the English language."

Patten, 26, who had just a few television appearances to her name, credits the film with raising her acting profile.

She says it also helped her to prepare for a successful audition for the part of Ophelia alongside Ed Stoppard's Hamlet on the London stage. She says she has no immediate plans for a return to Bollywood.

Actresses Aishwarya Rai and Mallika Sherawat are leading the limited impact of Bollywood stars in the US, but most are already household names among the Indian diaspora with stars mobbed during film events in Europe.

For young foreign actors and actresses, a role in Bollywood offers exposure and an addition to their acting portfolios at the start of a career.

Some foreign tourists used to make an appearance in a Bollywood movie an essential part of their round-the-world trips, with several agencies specialising in providing foreign extras.

Despite roles limited to sitting in cafes or standing next to trees during the song-and-dance routines that punctuate traditional Bollywood movies, the Indian authorities clamped down last year because the extras were working on tourist visas and avoiding paying tax on their 300 rupees (seven dollars) a day earnings.

Now the young pros are moving in.

"Bollywood is the most happening industry at this moment in world and I am more than glad to come and settle here in Mumbai," says Australian actress Zaetta, 35.

"Another thing which I can do is dance to these songs that are hugely popular among the masses."

Zaetta, who had previously appeared in television shows including "Baywatch", became a household name in India when she played the wife of India's favourite comic actor Arshad Warsi in "Salaam Namaste".

As well as featuring a foreigner in a prominent role, the film with debut director Siddharth Anand was also considered edgy for including a couple living together before marriage.

"The film was a mixture of English and Hindi. I had to speak English and therefore there was no difficulty in doing that film. If I had to do any others then obviously the dialogue would have to be dubbed," she says.

"Mr Black and Mr White", in which she features, is due for release soon and she had a brief role alongside India's legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan in "Bunty Aur Babli".

Another foreign actress, Briton Annabelle Wallace, also featured with Bachchan in the film "Dil Jo Bhi Kahey" (Whatever the Heart Tells You), in her first movie role.

"Bollywood is a very family-oriented business compared to Hollywood that is run by big studios. But once you make a mark it is easy to move on," says Zaetta.

The future for foreign actors appears bright. India's British colonial past, the use of English as the language of the country's booming business and an attempt to reach wider audiences is seeing a small number of Bollywood movies filmed entirely in English.