Aishwarya Rai is in Tunisia for her first Hollywood shooting. “The Last Legion” is Roman sword-and-sandal epic, in which Aishwarya Rai sheds her angelic image to play a Byzantine warrior woman on horseback.

“Shooting will commence shortly,” Aishwarya Rai’s agent Hari Singh told. . Adding that Aishwarya Rai had left for the North African country earlier this week.

The movie, being produced by Dino De Laurentis and Raffaella De Laurentis and directed by Doug Lefler, is based on author Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s 2003 novel of the same name.

Aishwarya Rai, a former Miss World and a leading actress in Bollywood, India’s prolific Hindi-language film industry, will play the lead female role of “Mira”, a Byzantine warrior in the film opposite actors Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley.

The movie “The Last Legion” is set against the fall of the Roman Empire in 470 AD and centres on its last emperor, 12-year-old Romulus Augustus, played by Thomas Sangster.

Rome was then a city on the brink of chaos and destruction. Imprisoned by rebels on the island of Capri, Romulus is aided by his teacher Ambrosinus (Kingsley) and legionnaire Aurelius (Colin Firth), to escape from the island.

Aishwarya Rai accompanies this small band of Roman soldiers whose mission is to restore the glory of the Roman empire.

“The list of requirements for the one major female role in the film, Mira, was long. We needed an actress of rare beauty, with enough screen presence to hold her own against the likes of Colin Firth and Sir Ben Kingsley. Aishwarya Rai was the obvious choice,” Doug Lefler told Hollywood trade magazine Variety.

Lefler’s credits include second unit direction on “Spider-Man” and “A Simple Plan”.

Aishwarya Rai made her first foray into foreign production with “Bride and Prejudice”, directed by Indian-born British director Gurinder Chaddha, which disappointed at the box-office in India but was a success with audiences in Britain and the United States.

Aishwarya Rai’s other overseas venture, “Mistress of Spices”, directed by Paul Berges, husband of Gurinder Chaddha, is slated for a Toronto Film festival opening in September.

Aishwarya Rai was selected by Time magazine as one of the “100 most influential people in the world” in 2004.

In recent months, Aishwarya Rai has been media-shy following the release of controversial tapes in which her ex-boyfriend and Bollywood star Salman Khan allegedly is heard threatening her with underworld retribution if Aishwarya Rai failed to do a stage show overseas. [Aishwarya Rai broke up with Salman Khan 2002 and roumered with Vivek Oberai]

Notwithstanding its ban on films from India, Pakistan Government plans to cash in on the popularity of Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai by inviting her to kick-start the next round of polio immunisation campaign in the country.

Indian health minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss and his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Nasir Khan have decided to exchange their respective polio ambassadors.

Mr Khan said.”This year we intend to build up excitement in the next round of polio campaign scheduled for the last week of September by involving two polio ambassadors of the region namely Indian film actress Aishwarya Rai and Pakistan’s pop star Jawad Ahmed”

He said preparations are on to hold two functions, one each in Pakistan and India, involving both stars to send a positive message, highlighting the need for saving children by completely wiping out the virus from the region.

“If successfully translated into reality, the event would boost confidence-building efforts between the two countries,” he said asserting health has no colour, creed or religion and has a pivotal role to play in bringing the two countries closer, local daily Dawn reported.

The decision to invite the former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai, who is extremely popular among Pakistanis, comes after a recent decision by the Pakistan Government to continue the ban on screening of Indian films and not to permit even the joint productions being planned by Pakistan and Indian film producers despite strong appeals from the local industry.

AISHWARYA RAI SIGNED DISNEY’s NEW MOVIE ‘REARRANGED”

Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai is being finalised for the latest Disney flick ‘Rearranged’. The movie ‘Rearranged’ directed by Audrey Wells (whose previous movie was ‘Under The Tuscan Sun’) begins shooting in April 2006.

The story of ‘Rearranged’ is about a single girl -played by Aishwarya Rai - who consents to a marriage arranged by her friends. The rest of the cast is currently being finalised.