Leander Paes can raise one mean “racquet” and smash a ball all around an arena alright. And that sounds pretty much like what a tough guy hero does in most Hindi movies. But the tennis star has obviously some “Film Star” potential in him that was spotted by director Tanuja Chandra who wants to make an “ace” actor out of him now. It all started when Leander frequented the sets of the film “Film Star” to play his “love game” with actress Mahima Chaudhary. But Tanuja feels that he’s got the “stuff” to act and is considering offering him a role. Like she said, “It was great having him on the sets. Leander is a sweet guy who hardly has a clue about the Hindi film industry. We did have some interesting conversation about (very) few movies he had seen and liked. He was always so full of questions, and I was more than glad to be the one to answer them. I think he would make an intense actor if he does agree to act. But with such a great tennis career going, I think it’s Bollywood’s loss right now!” said Tanuja. She spoke about him with such a gleam in her eyes that it wouldn”t come as a surprise if she signed him up tomorrow. “I wonder if he’ll be interested,” she joked. Maybe if Mahima played a “doubles game” with him, it may be pae(s) off time for Ms Chandra. Who knows?

Show business is thought to be only about glamour, wealth and adulation. The glittering world of showbiz is supposed to be where the lights don’t go off, where myths are created, where the stars shine brightly in the firmament, as the rest of the world looks up at them, gaping, admiring, applauding. And then, sometimes Life happens! Real life - raw, tough, naked in its brutal nature, shattering the myth!

Tanuja Chandra’s Film Star is one such story set against the backdrop of the film industry. A Bollywood film based on Bollywood! Tanuja Chandra, known for her penchant for thematic women oriented films like Dushman (1998), Sangharsh (1999), Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar (2001) and Sur (2002), had author-backed roles for the Kajol, Preity, Amisha and Gauri Karnik respectively in her films. This time she chooses Mahima Chaudhary for the title role, which promises of a wonderful act by the actress.

Hira Pandit (Mahima Chaudhury) is an actress who is nothing if not full of herself. Arrogant and thriving on only one thing - people adoring her unabashedly, and without stopping, just loving her! So naturally when this adoration stars to wane, she can’t take it. Her vanity can’t bear the fact that her popularity is slipping, that she’s not getting nominated for awards, that her films simply aren’t working like they used to.

And at this fragile juncture of her life she runs into Digambar (Priyanshu Chatterjee), an old friend, whom she used to lovingly call Digs. Somewhere along the way, their lives had traveled down different paths. He’s a drunkard, an ex-lawyer now very much out of work, who makes a living, singing in a cheap bar. He’s counted the days and months and year since they last met but on this night when they accidentally meet he makes the one mistake that he shouldn’t have he criticizes Hira. He tells her that she needs to reinvent herself, do new work, and be less predictable on screen. This sends her into a tizzy, but it also sends her towards events that change her life forever.

Hira finds herself the bona-fide drama, a real-life one, one that will surely take her back to the top! It’s the story of a loving, traditional wife, the murder of her husband, a father-in-law who heads a non-political but powerful organization and the secrets that lie behind the closed doors of his bhavan. A volatile world, which she enters purely to exploit for her own ends - is also the one that soon takes over her whole life. She begins to get attached to the women whose juicy story she had wanted just for film. She begins to see the strength in her lawyer friend whom she had merely considered a failure till now. As celluloid clashes with reality, it changes her forever.

An inmate’s (Vasundhara Das) past with her husband (Aryan Vaid) becomes the present of this actress and threatens to destroy her future. The actress, the drunk, the widow, the violent party-head these lives get enmeshed with each other as Hira struggles to become successful not just in the movies, but also in life. And this isn’t easy she finds out as she realizes that life is much more than films.

The supporting cast comprises of Pratima Kazmi, Sandeep Mehta, Ravi Jhankal and Manoj Sharma. The film has been produced by Vishesh Entertainment, and presented by Sahara and Mahesh Bhatt. Jatin-Lalit have composed the music on lyrics penned by Neelesh Misra, Vibha Singh and Israr Ansari.

The film is slated for a May release.