BOMBAY, June 8 (AFP) - India's Bollywood film industry, famed for its frothy romances and lavish song-and-dance sequences, is tackling for the first time AIDS and the social stigma attached to the illness.
Taking a starring role in "Phir Milenge" ("We will meet again"), due for release later this month, is one of Bollywood's biggest box office draws, Salman Khan, known for his tough-guy roles.
The movie, which also stars Abhishek Bachchan, son of Bollywood acting legend Amitabh Bachchan, and actress Shilpa Shetty, is the first mainstream Hindi-language film to deal with the sensitive subject of AIDS.
"AIDS is a major concern for humanity. Our cinema must highlight such issues for society to understand how dreadful this disease can be," said Khan, 38, who has legions of fans in India and worldwide.
"We've had films based on other life-threatening diseases like cancer but no one has made a movie on AIDS in mainstream cinema," he told AFP.
Until now, Bollywood has shied away from AIDS, which remains a taboo topic in many circles in India despite the country having the second largest number of cases after South Africa.
The film is directed by Madras-based actress-turned-director Revathi, who like many Indians uses one name.
Bollywood film-makers rarely divulge the full details of movie plots.
What is known is that Shetty plays an advertising professional in love with Khan, a singer. Their lives are torn apart when tragedy strikes. That's when Bachchan, who acts as a lawyer, comes to their rescue.
The film has echoes of Tom Hanks' film "Philadelphia" in which the US star played an AIDS patient and Denzel Washington his lawyer, media reports say.
Revathi said Khan's character had no takers initially. But he took it as a favour, having starred opposite Revathi in a 1991 film, media reports say.
"I'm happy to be a part of this project that will highlight the dangers of this disease," Khan said.
There are at least 4.58 million people living with HIV/AIDS in India, says the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), which works out to 0.8 percent of the countrys population.
The illness is spreading rapidly from urban to rural areas and from high-risk groups to the general population, doctors say.
Revathi won wide acclaim with her first directorial venture, "Mitr - My Friend," a poignant bilingual Hindi-English-language film in which a housewife realises there is more to life than just cooking and caring for her family.
Khan is one of Bollywood's most controversial stars and has been frequently in the headlines.
In 2002, he was charged with culpable homicide after allegedly driving his car over five people, killing one of them. He is now on bail while the case goes through the courts.
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