No doubles required as Paes goes to Bollywood

Leander Paes, India's multiple grand-slam winning doubles tennis specialist, is to make his Bollywood debut and has already completed a month's shooting for his first film.

Paes, who won the Australian Open mixed doubles with Zimbabwe's Cara Black on Sunday to take his career grand slam titles tally to 11, has been the face of Indian tennis for over a decade.

The 36-year-old Olympic bronze medallist has taken a role in a psychological thriller after undergoing intensive coaching at a leading Mumbai acting school, the DNA reported yesterday.

"The first leg of the shooting is over," Hiranmoy Chatterjee, President of the Bengal Tennis Association and a friend of Paes, told the paper. "He shot in various locations in West Bengal as the story is based in Bengal and is directed by a Bengali director."

The film, to be made in both Hindi and Bengali languages, will be in cinemas by the end of the year.

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