‘Rings’ producer teams with Kapur

Hollywood and Bollywood are set to commingle cinematically, with “Lord of the Rings” producer Barrie Osborne and “Elizabeth” director Shekhar Kapur announcing Friday that they will make two films in India together.

Osborne, a New Zealand-based producer of “The Matrix” and the Oscar-winning “Rings” trilogy, and Kapur, director of the Oscar-nominated “Elizabeth,” will start work on their first collaboration by the end of the year.

The futuristic film -- tentatively titled “Water” -- will have a budget of about $20 million and will tell the story of a powerful few who exploit the masses by controlling the life-giving resource, Kapur said. It will be shot in India but will have both a Hindi and an English version.

Work on a second movie, a drama titled “Fearless Nadia,” will follow the “Water” project, Osborne said.