Indian actress Shilpa Shetty to star in Bollywood musical in London

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty will appear in a musical about an Indian movie star set to hit London's West End later this year, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Shetty will star in the musical titled "Miss Bollywood" to open in London in September and later travel to Broadway, The Indian Express newspaper said.

"The whole song-and-dance routine of a musical really fascinates me and I think I'm a natural in the art," it quoted Shetty as saying.

She said the musical was about a day in the life of a Bollywood actress and would give Westerners a glimpse of Indian traditions and customs.

"I want foreigners to get familiar with Indian culture. Racism breeds out of ignorance," Shetty was quoted as saying.

A famous actress in India, Shetty became internationally known after winning the British reality show "Celebrity Big Brother."

During the show, a British contestant mocked her accent and bad-mouthed her cooking. Channel 4 was forced to apologize for the alleged racist abuse, which sparked a storm of protests.

Shetty has acted in more than 40 Bollywood movies since her 1993 debut. Her latest movie, "Metro," is a Hindi-language film about careers pushing love to second place.