Paes set for Bollywood debut

Leander Paes, the country'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 broadsheet reported on Tuesday.

"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."

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