ONE of Bollywood's biggest stars has visited Otley Rugby Club.

Akshay Kumar was at the club's Cross Green grounds on Saturday, July 15 to film scenes for his new movie, Gold.

The film follows the fortunes of the Field Hockey team which won India's first Gold medal, as an independent nation, at the 1948 Olympics in London.

Kumar plays Balbir Singh, the team's centre forward, who is widely regarded as one of the best hockey players of all time.

Cross Green is one of a number of West Yorkshire locations that are being used for the movie, with shooting in the area due to continue until mid-August.

In June producers put out a casting call for 2,000 local extras to star in the Bollywood production, which is set for release in August, 2018 - 70 years after the historic victory.

Gold is being directed by Reema Kagti and also stars Bollywood actors Mouni Roy and Farhan Akhtar and English actor Richard Cunningham, who has appeared in the Star Wars franchise, The Theory of Everything, and Sherlock.

Bradford City of Film director David Wilson said: “We are hugely excited that the production team behind Gold chose Bradford as their base.

"The Bradford Film Office has been providing support in terms of period locations, office space and help in a call out for extras.

“The city’s architecture lends itself to double for period London, and also a range of other locations needed for this historic story.

“All of this adds to recent figures about the Yorkshire region as the premier location for making films in the UK and Bradford is a big part of that."