A Bollywood film starring Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan is in contention for a Bafta award.

The period epic Jodhaa Akbar is competing in the Best Foreign Film Category.

It is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, whose previous film Lagaan was nominated for an Oscar in 2001 as Best Foreign Language Film.

Jodha Akbar was a huge sucess in the US, grossing $3.4 million as the second biggest Indian film ever, and more £1 million in the UK when it was released in February.

It is the first Indian film to compete for a Bafta Award since Rang de Basanti, nominated for Film Not In The English Language in 2006.

Set in the sixteenth century, the epic romance begins as a marriage of alliance between two kingdoms, with King Bharmal of Amer giving his Hindu daughter’s hand in marriage to the Mughal emperor Akbar.

When Akbar accepts the marriage proposal, little does he know that in his efforts to strengthen his relations with the Rajputs, he would be embarking on a new romance.

From the battlefield where the young Jalaluddin was crowned, through the conquests that won him the title of Akbar the Great, to winning the love of the beautiful Jodhaa, Jodhaa Akbar traces the life story of the legendary emperor.

The film earlier won the Audience Award of the Best Foreign Feature Film at the 32nd Sao Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil, and the Grand Prix Award for Best Film and Best Actor at the Golden Minbar Film Festival in Kazan, Russia.

The film’s score was composed by AR Rahman.

Final nominations for the Bafta awards will be announced on January 15th. Winners will be announced at the Bafta Awards on Sunday 8th February, 2009, at the Royal Opera House in London.