AN actor from India changed his onscreen name to honour Swindon, the town that helped create his first film.

Star Santhu 'Swindon' Gopinath was at the premiere of Londonalli Lambodhara at Cineworld Regent Circus, when he admitted adopting the name.

He explained: “It was awesome to shoot in Swindon. The support we got from Swindon Borough Council, from Lydiard Park was incredible. In fact, I decided to rename my name. Everyone is asking me why I picked Swindon, but it was also to reach a bigger audience."

He added: “It is my debut and I would not have asked for a better opportunity to start, because a lot of Indians come from India to abroad, especially to the UK, so everyone can relate to it.”

The crew filmed across Swindon for 15 days and shot scenes further afield in Wiltshire and the rest of the UK.

Westlea Parish Councillor Suresh Gattapur said: “We invested the money and we thought it would be good to get movie makers into Swindon.

"Why not promote Swindon as the next movie destination? We have beautiful parks and places.”

Robert Buckland MP told the Adver: “Anything that helps put Swindon on the map is a good thing, and our local Indian community here makes a huge contribution to our life in Swindon.

"I’m always happy to come and celebrate that, today is another example of the real energy and purpose that the community has and I am proud to be part of it.”

The plot tells the story of Lambodhara (Santhu), a young naive Indian man from Bangalore who moves to London in the hope of getting a better life.

But he immediately faces challenges, involving himself into dangerous situations, including the Brexit Minister’s kidnapping.

Unlike traditional Bollywood movie, the executive producer, Aravinda Bhat explained the team wanted to include both English and Kannada, an Indian language, to reach a bigger audience.

He said: “It was a really good experience to film in Swindon, a life-changing experience. We understood how it is to film an Indian movie abroad, we didn’t have the back-up strength of people who generally help us in India, but it was an amazing experience.”