ACTOR Amitabh Bachchan will play King Lear in a new Bollywood film that attempts to examine the artistic rivalry between theatre and cinema, a newspaper reported on March 13.

Bachchan, 64, has acted in more than 150 films playing the angry rebel, the honest cop and the anti-hero in a career spanning three decades, but says some of his best roles are coming his way only now.

In his next film, tentatively called The Last Lear or Curtain Call, he portrays a stage actor who plays King Lear.

"I`m a fading theatre actor who gets a film offer," Bachchan said, referring to his role in the film to be directed by art-house filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh.

"I like the subject. There has constantly been friendly friction between theatre and cinema."

Several top theatre actors have found Bollywood fame playing character actors, and Bachchan says he envied those who strode both arenas with equal ease.

"My character has to contend with going from theatre to cinema. This is the dilemma that Ritu wants to bring in."

Bachchan`s latest film, Eklavya, in which he plays an ageing royal guard, has drawn applause from British actor Ralph Fiennes as having a Shakespearean edge.