Nagesh Kukunoor's 'Bollywood Calling' is a treat - a comedy in English about the Bollywood film industry.

The story is about American B-Movie one-hit wonder, Pat Stormare (Pat Cusick), whose career has "hit the rocks" in Hollywood. Pat has hit the booze, his wife has left him and worst of all - he no longer gets film offers. Even his agent, a smooth slick youngster who plays his role like a second-hand car salesman, is about to ditch Pat Stormare.

Pat's one and only hit - a 1970's-like action adventure - attracts the attention of Indian director, Subramanium ('Subra') played by Om Puri, who is determined to snare Pat for a role in his debut directorial role in a movie called 'Maut' (Death). The only problem is that the movie is in Hindi!

Out of sheer desperation and because of a personal crisis (he thinks he is about to die!), Pat takes the role and flies to India. What follows is a farcical look at movie making in India.

From the outset it is apparent that there is no script, there are pre-filming prayers and a PR launch though; shooting starts late everyday and the entire film is at the mercy of its real star Manu-ji (Navin Nischol). The plot is made up day-by-day and we get a look at the whole process through Pat's eyes.

Manu-ji, an ageing Bollywood superstar adopts Pat as his drinking buddy with a vague hope of gleaning a Hollywood part for himself. Manuj'si role, which could have been based on any number of real-life ageing stars, is played beautifully by Navin Nischol. He demonstrates is power over the entire production by cancelling his availability for filming on a whim, when he feels slighted over Pat's refusal to dinner.

Meanwhile, Pat is seduced by the heroine of 'Maut' (Kajol) played by Perizad Zorabian who is seemingly a brainless wannabe star and is actually a level-headed, conniving siren.

The film does have a few stilted scenes and for the first twenty minutes I thought Pat Cusick was the wrong lead to choose. Often appearing as surly, bored and uncommunicative he plays the part like a bad mixture of Bruce Willis and Dustin Hoffman (if you can imagine such a thing!). However, his performance improves and his Hindi is so bad that its comic.

Om Puri is simply brilliant, in a role written specifically for him, which he plays with consummate skill and humility.

Better editing would have helped sharpen the film. More groundwork in early scenes would also have helped in making later scenes more credible. I have not seen Kukunoor's first film 'Hyderabad Blues' but he has a directorial talent for comedy and will undoubtedly improve with subsequent films.

Overall 'Bollywood Calling' is a bit of a laugh.