NEW DELHI:

Rekha, the one-time heartthrob of millions of film viewers, and character actor Nana Patekar will be playing lead roles in the next Hindi movie by acclaimed director Goutam Ghosh, a news report said. The film titled Yatra (Journey) tells the story of a famous writer and a fictional female character created by him who comes to life, PTI said.

The film will be part realism and part fantasy, with Rekha playing the role of the female muse to the author who is played by Patekar.

Ghosh, a noted filmmaker in the Bengali language, said he decided to make the movie in Hindi because the subject, the characters, and the setting called for it. But he also wanted to reach out to a larger audience, he said. Rekha reigned for more than a decade over Bollywood. In recent years, Rekha has made cameo appearances in numerous films, including a catchy nightclub song scene in this year’s hit film Parineeta (The Wife). Yatra will be Ghosh’s fourth Hindi movie after Paar (The Crossing), Patang (The Kite) and Gudia (The Doll), for which he won a national award for best film in 1997.