A group of US-based Indian technology tycoons will fund the 10-million-dollar IMax film to be released in January 2006, the Asian Age newspaper reported yesterday.

The name of the Hollywood star, who will play Shah Jahan, opposite Rai's Mumtaz Mahal, is being kept secret.

'Even though the Taj Mahal belongs to India, the monument has been a symbol of love for all countries,' said one of the film's promoters.

'It could be the biggest international movie venture out of India since Gandhi, Richard Attenborough's epic,' he said.

Taj Mahal will be the first Indian IMax film, shown on a screen 10 times larger than the conventional screen.

'It makes the viewer feel as if he is part of the film. The IMax version of Taj Mahal will be for only an hour. But the 35 mm version will be three hours long,' said Richard L Gelfold, IMax co-chief executive officer.

The Indian Express said Aishwarya had also won a role in a Hollywood murder mystery called Windfall, set around the tragic gas leak that killed thousands 20 years ago in the central Indian city of Bhopal.

The shooting of the 25-million dollar film is set to start in the fall of 2005.

Rai's last film Bride and Prejudice was directed by UK-based Gurinder Chadha, who found fame with Bend it like Beckham.