Mumbai, Jan 31 (IANS) Suniel Shetty's proposed actioner 'Loot' is now a much bigger project than it was a fortnight ago. He has just cut a lucrative deal with the Philippine government for the movie.

This is his second such major tie-up with a foreign government on behalf of his company. Earlier, he had cut a similar multi-million-dollar deal with the government of Turkey for the Apoorva Lakhia-directed 'Mission Istanbul'.

However, the deal for 'Loot' cuts deeper.

'Of course, on the most obvious level we get to shoot in some of the most gorgeous virgin locales of the Philippines, just as we shot in Turkey. But the tie-up means a lot more. It's time we stopped looking at Bollywood as an Indian enterprise,' Suniel told IANS.

To be produced by his Popcorn Entertainment, 'Loot' features Govinda, Suniel, Javed Jaffrey, Mika Singh, Kim Sharma, Mahesh Manjrekar and Mimoh Chakraborty. Rajnish Thakur directs it.

The pioneering entrepreneur that he is, Suniel plans many such tie-ups with foreign governments in the near future.

Suniel says, 'Globally, Bollywood is now taken more seriously than ever before. And it's not just for the stereotypical song and dance films. But also themes that offer a more realistic view of India.'

Suniel's 'EMI' (Easy Monthly Instalments) , about bank loans and their recovery, is already attracting a lot of attention abroad. For the first time, Malaika Arora will be seen playing the female lead in the movie.

'Our work for that film has been quickly wrapped up after Sanju baba's (Sanjay Dutt) return. We're almost done with 'EMI'. That will be my company's first release in 2008 in April. Then in June-July we'll release 'Mission Istanbul'.'