Twentieth Century Fox to produce Bollywood movie

The US studio will team up with Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma on the thriller Ek Hasina Thi, which translates as There Was A Beautiful Girl.

It is the first time a foreign production house has produced a Hindi-language film, according to Fox officials.

Aditya Shastri, head of Fox's India unit, said: "It is a perfect match for both of us. The movie will have our strengths and we will also make sure the movie is successfully marketed and presented."

Filming on Ek Hasina Thi will begin in August.

It will star Indian actors Urmila Matondkar and Saif Ali Khan, and will cost about 60,000,000 rupees (£1,214,8990).

"We are happy to tie up with Varma because of the quality of his films," Shastri said.

Fox, owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is also in talks with Varma for two other projects.

Varma is well-known in India for directing films such as Company, released in April, about the Bombay mafia.

The Bombay-based Bollywood film industry produces nearly 800 movies a year that are watched all over Asia, the Middle East and by Indian migrants worldwide.