IT may not show when the latest Bollywood movie Kuch Din Kuch Pal hits the cinema but steamy scenes shot in Wiltshire last Friday were recorded in almost freezing conditions.

There are few places more typically British than the rolling Marlborough Downs overlooking the Vale of Pewsey.

Incongruously though, the directors of the latest Indian movie chose Wilton Windmill as the setting for a love song scene featuring two of the sub continent's top actors, Sudhanshu Panday and Bhumika Puri.

Bhumika, one of Bollywood's best-loved young actresses, danced on the windmill's exterior wooden gallery while Panday serenaded her.

She is so popular in India that at least a dozen websites are devoted to her.

Over the previous 30 days the crew and cast had been filming in India and in Britain for the movie that will be released next April.

Producer Shuba Sandeep explained that they had been looking for somewhere that their Asian viewers would regard as romantic and, she said, the 185-year-old mill was ideal.

Ms Sandeep said: "We have a location manager in England and he discovered the windmill for us."

The thermometer was hovering just a shade above freezing when the Wilton scenes were recorded.

Bhumika was not only nearly freezing, she said, but she was just recovering from a flu-like illness a couple of days previously.

Once the cameras started rolling, the wintry conditions were forgotten as the pair performed their love scene.

In between takes actors and crew were fuelled with plenty of hot sweet tea to keep out the cold.

John Talbot from the Wilton Windmill Society which maintains Wiltshire's only working windmill, owned by the county council, looked on as the preparations for filming took place.

He said: "It is such a lovely location and we wish a lot more film companies would use it."

Bollywood, the affectionate name for the Indian movie industry, is the fastest growing sector of the film industry. Hundreds of low budget movies are produced each month and although they were originally made largely in India they now use locations anywhere in the world.

The frills and frippery of the western film industry are conspicuous by their absence. Stars arrive on the same hired coach as the film crew, production team and helpers.

At Wilton there was no limousine for the actors, no luxury motor homes for them to rest in between scenes and no five star snack wagon in evidence.

Actors Sudhanshu Panday and Bhumika Puri had to stand and shiver on Friday the same as everyone else.

Bollywood films used to be shown only in India but are now exported all around the world and have their own cult following among non-Asians as well.

There are several satellite TV channels devoted to Asian-made films. Producer Shuba Sandeep said the film with the scenes from the windmill seen in Indian lore as a romantic place will also be shown in Britain.