Queen of Bollywood

Meet the new Queen of Bollywood.

At 22, Londoner Preeya Kalidas is tipped to become a new global superstar with the release next month of the £3.5 million film Bollywood Queen.

She has already appeared in East Is East and Bend It Like Beckham and has had a 12-month stint starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Bombay Dreams.

But Bollywood Queen - a retelling of Romeo And Juliet - could become the first British Bollywood-style movie to create a major impression in India.

Its British director, James Wooding, is convinced she could be a major star. He said: "She can do it all - act, sing, dance - and she shines on camera. She's one of those natural screen presences that you get transfixed by and just want to keep watching. It's a rare quality, even rarer in one so young."

The daughter of a financial adviser and a British Airways manager, Kalidas grew up in Twickenham. She started singing at the age of three and eventually gained a place at Marylebone's Sylvia Young Theatre School.

Kalidas, who started a real-life romance with Bombay Dreams co-star Raza Jaffrey, said: "I was resigned to having to work hard and struggle for years before getting these sorts of chances. It still seems quite mad that one thing has just followed another."