London, May 17 : After almost three decades, `Gandhi' star Sir Ben Kingsley has returned to India - as a Bollywood star.

The Oscar-winning actor, who garnered much appreciation for his role of Mahatma Gandhi, will star alongside India's superstar Amitabh Bachchan in thriller Teen Patti.

The storyline revolves around a reclusive maths genius who becomes involved in the world of gambling. The name is a reference to a popular game of three-card poker.

The film represents a milestone in the melding of Bollywood with Western cinema. It is also the first Indian movie to feature a Western actor in a lead role.

"Ever since I left India after filming Gandhi, I wanted to participate. I can''t go back to India as a tourist. I can''t do it. I need to be creating or doing or telling a story in India," The Telegraph quoted Kingsley, as saying.

In Teen Patti he plays Perci Trachtenberg, regarded as the world''s greatest living mathematician, who befriends Bachchan, a shy fellow academic. (ANI)