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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has begun shooting his latest film "Ready" in Sri Lanka, weeks after the Indian ocean island hosted the annual Bollywood awards that drew protests from South Indian film artists. The film, directed by Anees Bazmee, also stars South Indian actress Asin Thottumkal and Paresh Rawal. The story is woven around Prem (Khan), who falls for Sanjanna (Thottumkal) and tries to stop her two uncles from stealing her fortune.

Khan told reporters Wednesday that he was delighted to film in Sri Lanka because the country is close to India and its landscape is suitable for Indian productions. The movie will be shot for about a month in locations in the capital, Colombo, and its outskirts. It is to released in July 2011 and will be premiered in Sri Lanka as well. In early June, Sri Lanka hosted the International Indian Film Awards which attracted many Bollywood celebrities, although some top actors did not attend because of the island's former civil war.

Some actors and directors from India's southern state of Tamil Nadu asked them to boycott the ceremony, accusing Sri Lankan forces of killing ethnic Tamil civilians in the final stages of the civil war that ended last year. Sri Lanka's military defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, ending their decades-long armed struggle for a separate homeland for minority Tamils, who have family and cultural links with the people of Tamil Nadu in India. Those who did not show up in Colombo included big Bollywood names Amitabh Bachchan, his actor son Abhishek, Aamir Khan, Shah Ruk Khan and Bachchan's actress daughter-in-law, former Miss World Aishwarya Rai. They all said they had prior commitments.

Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved
: By Bharatha Mallawarachi (CP)