After the Mexican hottie Barbara Mori paired up with Hrithik Roshan in Kites and Sarah Thompson got together with Ranbir Kapoor in Raajneeti, it is the South African Playboy centrespread queen, Candice Boucher, who has been signed opposite the IPL baron and Managing Director of the XXX energy drink, Sachin Joshi, for an action film being produced by Percept Pictures.

Boucher is currently the hottest face and body across the world. She was the nude centrespead attraction of the Playboy magazine, for April 2010 and also the brand ambassador for ‘Guess’ jeans.

Cricket and glamour couldn’t get to be cosier than this!

Apparently Joshi, who’s allegedly funding the action thriller wanted a leading lady who would have an instant international appeal.

So will Ms Boucher be seen in her birthday suit in Mr Joshi’s actioner?

“No nude scenes with Candice Boucher!” Says a source very close to the project. “We will be using her presence to enhance the project’s glamour quotient. However we don’t intend to go overboard. Candice will appear on screen revealing as much flesh as the Indian sensibilities permit. We are making an Indian film keeping the Indian audiences in mind. Today Deepika and Priyanka are very comfortable with their bodies. Candice won’t seem an oddity.”

The question is, what would the BCCI already, scrutinizing the exacerbated glamour quotient of the IPL, think of Joshi romancing the Playboy centrspread in a film, whose budget could feed 25 starving villages for a whole year?

Says a key source from the production team, “We don’t think Sachin Joshi’s activities in the IPL has any bearing on his movie career. He has done a South Indian film earlier and has been building his physique for this 30-crore rupee action flick in Hindi for months now. We shot a 20-minute reel for the film and Sachin came across as a perfect action hero. The film will be directed by Prashant Chadha and will be shot in Germany, Prague, Morocco and China.”

Percept who will produce, market and distribute the film in India and overseas will release it in summer 2011.

Percept, has roped in Salim-Suleiman to do the music. Global pop-queen Shakira will perform a key song to be shot on Candice Boucher.

When approached, Shailendra Singh of Percept did not deny any of the above facts. However he refrained from commenting.

-Subhash K Jha/Sampurn Wire