The name is Grover. Gulshan Grover

November 30, 2005 16:04 IST

Gulshan Grover just can't get over being the 'bad man' (let's get the inevitable pun out of the way at the beginning, yes?) in the next James Bond film. And that's understandable.

For a while now, PR firms have been crowing about how it is alleged that certain Indian stars (read: Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai) have been shortlisted for parts in upcoming Bond films, and they've always been laughably false. This time, with Gullu's ongoing negotiations with EON Productions (Everything Or Nothing Productions, the firm that makes the Bond films), it really does seem like James Bond will face another (remember Kabir Bedi in the unbearable Octupussy?) Indian baddie in the upcoming 007 adventure, Casino Royale.

"It's a very exciting part. Which actor won't be excited to be in a James Bond film?" Gulshan trills.

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He's

been reading the script and redrafts of the script. "It's very professional. The people at EON have been keeping me regularly updated, and everything is going fine. The way they work is so efficient."

In 1967, Casino Royale was adapted, but the resultant spoof was barely recognisable from the Ian Fleming novel. This remake, directed by Martin Campbell, claims to be more loyal, but set in the modern day, is obviously far-removed from the book's Cold War setting. "No, it's not (set) in the Cold War," Gulshan says, and then goes mum. "But that's all I'm saying about it."

Sworn to secrecy, Mr Grover? Well, when making a film about the superspy, that's an understandable diktat.

Photograph: PIB

Raja Sen

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