Flush with the success of runaway UK hit Bend It Like Beckham, UK distributor Helkon SK has bought Bollywood Queen for the UK and France.

Helkon, which bought the Bollywood-inspired romantic comedy from Gary Hamilton and Victor Syrmis' Arclight Films, is expected to eventually sell on French rights.

The film, backed by UK tax financier Great British Films, is about an Indian girl obsessed with Bollywood musicals who falls for an English boy whose family runs a rival business making fake designer ware in London's East End. US rights are represented by Andrew Herwitz's The Film Sales Company.

Meanwhile, Arclight has announced that it has boarded The Poet, a thriller to be directed by Paul Hills. The move re-unites Arclight with Meltemi Entertainment, with which it collaborated on erotic drama Married/Unmarried.