Vidhu Vinod Chopra, one of Bollywood's top producers has announced that he will be using Vancouver for a mega project next year, boosting the city's growing reputation as a favourite for film makers.

In a casting coup,The Oscar-nominated producer has managed to rope in legendary Hollywood actors Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman to play roles alongside Bollywood's 'Star of the Millennium' Amitabh Bachan.

Production for the the multi-million dollar movie called the The Fifth Move, which is based on a chess game, is expected to begin in 2003.

The film is Chopra's first English Hollywood project with an international all-star cast.

Chopra said several top Hollywood actors, including Robin Williams had expressed keen interest in the project.

Vir Chopra and Subhash Dhar, president of Ovonic Battery Company USA, will co-produce the film that has been scripted by Chopra, Abhijat Joshi and Suketu Mehta.

Local media reported that Vidhu Vinod Chopra scripted the film while in Michigan and was to shoot it in a US city but decided to shift venues after visiting Vancouver.

He made the announcement about his new movie during a Mumbai dinner reception last week hosted by the visiting Canadian Minister for Natural Resources Herb Dhaliwal for another Bollywood legend Subhash Ghai. Ghai complimented the Canadian government for welcoming Bollywood producers and said Canada offered a lot to the film makers.

Welcoming Chopra, Dhaliwal, a Punjab native who likes Hindi movies, said: "we offer our full support to him and are pleased to note that he is exploring opportunities that Canada has to offer."

The minister was on seven-day trade development mission to India. Film actors Dharmendra and Jackie Shroff also attended the reception.