Chase is the producer "The Cheetah Girls: One World," the first Disney Channel movie to be filmed in India. The movie will air in the United States Aug. 22 and will premiere in India on Diwali.

The channel will not divulge its budget, but a spokesperson confirmed that "It's one of our most elaborate projects yet."

"The Cheetah Girls," a group of talented (and fictitious) American singer-dancers, first appeared in a popular series of novels for young girls, but they have become a media phenomenon. Their pop albums have gone multi-platinum, their 2006 concert tour sold out in 40 cities, and their TV movies, "The Cheetah Girls" and "The Cheetah Girls 2," were sensations that drew millions of Disney Channel viewers.

"It was my idea to do this movie in India," Chase told India-West July 2 from Los Angeles. "India is hugely important to Disney."

Chase had visited India in 2004 as a tourist, and found herself fascinated. "I loved it," she said. While she was there, she ran into Rich Ross, the head of Disney Channel Worldwide who was in the midst of launching the Disney Channel in India, and she realized that the country and its culture presented a colorful opportunity.

In "The Cheetah Girls: One World," the girls land a big break with an offer to star in what they think is a Hollywood production but turns out to be a Bollywood movie produced in India. Things get even more complicated when they learn that only one of them has been picked to star in the film.

Aqua (Williams), Chanel (Adrienne Bailon), and Dorinda (Sabrina Bryan) find romance and intrigue, and learn that people on the other side of the world aren't so different after all. The film is directed by Paul Hoen and also stars acclaimed actor Roshan Seth and Deepti Daryanani, a young Kolkata-born actress who starred in HBO's "The Anatomy of Hope." The film's costars include Indian TV star Vatsal Seth and Indian American actors Kunal Sharma ("Hannah Montana," "Legally Blondes") and Rupak Ginn ("The Namesake").

The film has been choreographed by top Indian dance director Rujuta Vaidya ("Tara Rum Pum," "Jaaneman") and famed hip-hop choreographer Fatima Robinson (Michael Jackson, Prince, Rihanna, Fergie, Usher).

Disney's foothold in India is now well-established. Not only has the Disney film studio collaborated with Yash Raj Films ("Roadside Romeo," hitting theaters this summer), but it launched the Disney Channel in India in 2004, airing a mix of original Disney movies and TV shows in English and new Disney shows in Hindi and other languages produced in association with Hungama TV.

The channel "Indianized" its hit "High School Musical 2" DVD for release in India by adding Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Hindi songs to the soundtrack, supported by Bollywood-type videos. But according to Chase, plans for "Cheetah Girls: One World" were already in place before the Indian "High School Musical 2" happened.

So who is going to watch "The Cheetah Girls: One World"? Here in the United States, the main audience for "The Cheetah Girls" is the "tween" market of girls aged 8-16.

In India, things are different, said Chase. "On the one hand, it's the 8-16 audience," she said. "But these musicals — the parents love them too, and even teenagers say they're a guilty pleasure!"

In casting "The Cheetah Girls: One World," Chase and her team faced many of the same problems that other producers have while working in India ("Growing Indian Media Firms Face Manpower Shortage" I-W, June 13).

"It took us a while to learn the lay of the land," Chase told India-West. "It's the biggest filmmaking industry in the world, but there are no agents, and no casting directors. Honestly, the Bollywood stars were not chomping at the bit to be in a TV movie, either."

So the head of casting for the Disney Channel in the U.S., Judy Taylor, camped out for a solid week of nonstop auditions in Mumbai.

One of Taylor's biggest finds, said Chase, was actress Deepti Daryanani, who plays a local Bollywood choreographer who falls in love in "One World."

"Deepti is an interesting story," said Chase. "She was from Kolkata and had just moved to the U.S. to study acting, and William Morris signed her. Then she came right back to India to work for us!

Vatsal Seth, a TV and film actor ("Tarzan the Wonder Car") who will appear in Subhash Ghai's "Paying Guest" later this year, came to the Disney audition to try for the role of a Bollywood star in the film, but has ended up playing a fledgling film director.

Since Chase first visited India just four years ago, she has witnessed the extraordinary synergy between Hollywood and the Indian entertainment industry.

"Our timing on this could not be better," she said, "with the Reliance-DreamWorks agreement [I-W, June 27], and the fact that all the American studios have a presence there now. On a personal level, I am talking to Indian production companies, too.

"The Indian operation is very big for Disney," Chase told India-West. "It's all good!"