Kolkata: Indian tennis ace Leander Paes, who won the Australian Open mixed doubles Championship yesterday,
is also trying his hand at acting and has already completed
part of a Bollywood film's shooting.
"Paes is into films now and could take up a career in
Bollywood when he decides to hang up his racquet," Hiranmoy
Chatterjee, Secretary of the Bengal Tennis Association (BTA)
and considered close to the tennis player, told reporters.
Chatterjee said that Paes had already shot part of the
film and is expected in Kolkata next month for more shooting.
Paes, who is from the Beckbagan area of the metropolis
and learnt his tennis lessons here, grabbed his 11th Grand
Slam when partnering, Cara Black of Zimbabwe, he defeated
Russia's Ekatarina Makarova and Czechoslovakia's Jaroslav
Levinsky 7-5, 6-3 in the mixed doubles final at Melbourne.
"Leander has been offered the hero's role in the movie,"
Chatterjee said, but refused to divulge details about the
film.”
"As for other details, it is for Paes or the director of
the film to make public," he said.
When contacted, Leander's father Vece Paes, a former
India hockey centre-half, said "it is upto Lee to decide
whether he will continue in films."
BTA's Chief Executive Officer Sujoy Ghosh also confirmed
that Paes was into films now.
Begining 1999, Paes has so far won six Grand Slam men's
doubles titles (thrice with Mahesh Bhupati) and five mixed
doubles titles with different partners including the legendary
Martina Navratilova (twice).
Paes, who has represented the country in the Davis Cup,
also won a bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 01, 2010, 18:13