By Monica Chadha BBC reporter in Bombay

Bollywood film actress-turned-producer Raveena Tandon intends to bowl everyone over with her new project, Stumped.

Ms Tandon says she is not pitching cricket against war

She has roped in Indian cricket greats like Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Ravi Shastri to feature in the film.

The storyline revolves around a nation swayed by cricket as soldiers fight wars on the battlefront.

Ms Tandon said the idea was to make a film that honours soldiers.

"We are not trying to pitch cricket against war. We want to show how impervious we have become to those who make our society worth living," she said.

'Line of Control'

The actress herself plays the role of a wife awaiting her husband's return from war while her neighbours are following the cricket match on television.

Coincidentally, Ms Tandon features in another Bollywood film that honours Indian soldiers, called LoC or Line of Control, scheduled for release in 2003.

It will not be the first film to use cricket as a theme

The director of Stumped, Gaurab Pandey said they were trying to bring out the hidden ironies between cricket and war.

"Stumped is about why and how war is a reality to us only when someone close to us is involved in the battlefront. On the other hand, the average Indian does not know Sachin Tendulkar but has no problem hero-worshipping him," Mr Pandey said.

Cricket World Cup

As for the role of the cricketers, they have all recorded brief speeches for the film.

These monologues will be used as promotional clips around the same time as the Cricket World Cup in 2003.

Ms Tandon also said a chunk of the film's proceeds will be diverted to the Kargil Martyr's Fund.

Stumped is scheduled to be in the can by early December released around the same time as the Cricket World Cup in 2003.