The veil of mystery surrounding the identity of the entrepreneur eager to create a Bollywood production hub in the British city of Leicester has finally been removed.

The 38-year old Rajeev Saxena, a business studies graduate whose family originates from Dholpur in Rajasthan, is a director of Motion Pictures Partners International that wants to provide up to £34 million for the production and acquisition of UK-made Bollywood films.

At a champagne launch of the scheme in London, Saxena explained that Leicester's appeal lies in the large Hindi speaking non-resident Indian community that make it a second home.

He told rediff.com that MPPI is currently working on the production of a slate of 10 films, using facilities provided by a local Asian terrestial television channel, MATV, with support from East Midlands Development Agency and MPPI's co-production partner, Mars Entertainment.

Among the films in the pipeline are Judgement, starring former Miss Universe Lara Dutta, Amit Saxena's Take 2 starring Vidya Malvade and a film from Jag Mundra, titled Backwaters.

"Principally, what we do is set up an alternative investment fund. We also raise funds," he explained. "We structure them in a way to make them attractive for investors.

"We actually wanted to raise £10million, but because of the borrowing it has actually gone up to £34 million."

Asked if he would describe himself as a venture capitalist, Saxena replied, "We set up a fund and we are now making movies. If that's venture capital, so be it.

"We're only interested in movies that are way down the line. I'm not interested in someone who has a script, that's three years away.

"I want something that's ready to go now, ready to be financed now, has collateral behind it. We look at the finance, the directors and actors involved, the cost projections, we negotiate the commercial terms and do our best to fund it.

"There are two other funds -- technology fund and art fund. We raised about £15 last year in our funds business. They're all separate companies but they will be under one entity."

A graduate of the LMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, Saxena comes from an advertising background and helped to launch the popular Red Bull energy drink in the UK market.

"Basically, for this to work for my investors, the films have to fulfill certain criteria. I gap finance 25 per cent, they come up with the other 75 and then that film has to qualify as a Department of Culture, Media and Sport certificated movie.

"If it qualifies for that certificate, my investors get a 100 per cent tax break for investing in this movie.

"We cash flow the full amount, but ultimately it's a gap finance of 25 per cent. So if they have security based on an agreement with the distributor, I'll give them the cash for that in addition to the 25 per cent."

Saxena has the enthusiastic backing of Leicester MP and British Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt who took time out to attend the MMI launch on Monday night.

She told rediff.com, "We're getting a new idea of what it means to be British, right here. We're finding that some of the most creative activity -- some of the most entrepreneurial business activity -- is coming from the British-born Asian community. The youngsters are brought up here and yet are at home with their own culture and tradition and they're doing extraordinarily well."

"We're seeing it in comedy, we're seeing it in film, music, dance and all aspects of modern culture.

"Its hugely popular not just with the Asian community here and in the sub continent, but to the mainstream British population also.

"Meritocracy is very important but equally important is valuing everybody equally, recognising that every human being is of equal value. What we value about each other is the diversity because every human being is unique.

"There is a visual uniqueness but also a unique cultural history. Those who come from the Indian tradition have 1000 years of an extraordinarily rich and diverse culture.

"When that's married with Britain's own rich and diverse culture wonderful things happen and the reality is that Britain today is one of the most dynamic and creative economies in the world.

"The more we can value and celebrate our cultural diversity, the more we can succeed as a society. We believe in it from Tony Blair down. I guess it started with food when chicken tikka masala took over from fish and chips.