Airport movie's Bolly bad taste; SMEATO SAYS NO TO INDIAN TERROR FILM.

Byline: By MARION SCOTT

HERO baggage handler John Smeaton has turned down a role in a Bollywood movie about the Glasgow Airport terror attack.

Smeaton rejected the offer to star in Beyond Belief - made by Dundee businessman Tony Hussain - because he believes the idea is "tasteless".

The 32-year-old, of Erskine, Renfrewshire, who shot to global fame after grappling with airport terror suspects last summer, said: "I have spoken to Tony Hussain but I have told him that I'm not doing it because it's a bit tasteless."

Director Nileish Malhotra was due to begin shooting the multimillion pound song-and-dance thriller in Scotland this month.

Despite Smeato's comments, Hussain last week claimed he was still on board. He said: "He's going to play himself."

Smeato's snub comes as the Sunday Mail can reveal Hussain's controversial business history.

Behind the boasts, BMW car and designer suits, self-publicist Hussain, 42, has a chequered past.

He says he is an "entrepreneur, restaurateur, property investor, developer, business angel, screenwriter and occasional actor".

But the former bankrupt has a string of failed firms behind him and has served a seven-year company director ban.

Hussain, who ran Indian restaurants in Edinburgh and Dundee, says his firm SHK Property & Investments is backed by the Bank of Ireland and "makes the impossible, possible".

He claims he has a pounds 20million war chest to bankroll 200 Dragons Den-style business wannabes and has helped to finance chip shops, takeaways, pubs and children's nurseries.

Hussain now plans a chain of Bollywood restaurants across Scotland after opening one in his native Dundee in March.

Hussain, who also uses the first names Mohammed and Iqbal, was bankrupt between 1992 and 1995.

He once won Alex Salmond's backing to urge the UK government to allow Indian actors to film in Scotland.

But eight of the Bollywood crew did a runner during the making of themovie Arzoo in the Highlands.

Salmond also attended the 1997 opening of Hussain's Babur Classic Indian Cuisine nan bread factory in Glenrothes, Fife.

It folded with debts of pounds 725,000 and two other firms also went under around the same time.

Hussain was banned from being a company director at Dundee Sheriff Court in 1999.

He said: "I've learned frommy mistakes and I think I can help other people because of it. It was a hard lesson."

Hussain also made an appearance in the BBC documentary Jute, Jam and Islam, about Dundee Muslims post-9/11.

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CAPTION(S):

Making a song and dance: The thriller may feature Bollywood stars such as Hrishita Bhat, left; Count me out: Smeaton; Big talker: Tony Hussain claims Smeato will take role