New Zealand basketball player Casey Frank will be in Bollywood film Mohenjo Daro

Students of ancient Indian history are familiar with the archaeological ruins of Mohenjo-daro, which are an ancient archaeological site of one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley civilization, founded over four and a half thousand years ago in 26th century BC. It was one of the world's earlier urban human settlements, and the region now lies in Sindh, Pakistan. Now, about four millennia after the end of the Indus Valley civilization, Bollywood has decided to take its crack at recreating the lifestyle (and the drama, action, romance, and comedy, too, of course) of our forefathers. Set to be produced by Disney India, the film Mohenjo Daro - directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring Hrithik Roshan - is set to be released sometime next year

IMDB summarizes the film as "A period adventure and love story set during the Indus Valley Civilization". Every adventure and love story needs a hero (Roshan), a heroine (Pooja Hegde), and a supporting cast (Kabir Bedi, Arunoday Singh, Kishori Shahane). But the adventure needs a good villain, too, and that's how - somehow - the director Gowariker stumbled upon a 6-foot-8 professional and international basketball player from New Zealand.

Meet Casey Frank, a 37-year-old American-born New Zealander who has played professional basketball in New Zealand and Australia for the past 15 years and been a regular fixture for the 'Tall Blacks', New Zealand's national squad. In an interview with Stuff recently, Frank spoke about getting an opportunity to play the 'big bad' in Gowariker's period drama. He spent around six weeks in India shooting the film with the crew, the principal photography of which was done in Bhuj, Gujarat.

Frank grew up in America, going to college in Northern Arizona, and declaring for the 1999 NBA draft where he was undrafted. He moved to his paternal home country to play professionally and was naturalized by New Zealand's national team as well. Frank has played in two FIBA World Championships in Japan and Turkey, and last year's FIBA World Cup in Spain. He was part of New Zealand's silver-medal team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He's a four-time New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL) champion and will return to play for the Super City Rangers this year.

So, while you're enjoying a romantic recreation of ancient history and being blasted by the inevitable Hrithik Roshan song-and-dance routine, keep your eye for the 6-foot-8 bearded kiwi in Mohenjo Daro as well. I'm not sure if they had basketball courts at Indus Valley, but since this is bound to be a creative twist at history, hopefully Frank gets a chance to play some early-civilization hoops too. If you've been a closer follower of his blog, you'll know that Roshan has, um, 'mastered' the art of Bollywood and Basketball in the past.