Agencies/Mumbai
Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan is set to make his Hollywood debut in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, Warner Bros Pictures said in a statement yesterday.
Bachchan, 68, also known as “Big B”, is the latest actor to join the Gatsby cast. Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio is slated to play the leading role.
The Warner statement said Bachchan will play Meyer Wolfsheim, a shadowy figure who helps DiCaprio’s character earn a living in post-World War I New York.
The $125mn project is a 3D adaptation of the classic F Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name. Shooting began this week in Sydney.
Luhrmann said: “The Great Gatsby has been adapted for the screen no less than four times. Fitzgerald’s story defies time and geography.”
The movie’s other cast members include Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Carey Mulligan, and newcomer Elizabeth Debicki.
Luhrmann, who made Moulin Rouge, and used Hindi song Chhamma chhamma in it, is happy to shoot in his native Australia.
“The opportunity to make the film in Australia with the Bazmark creative team is very important to us; the assistance from Screen Australia and the NSW government has made that possible,” he said.
Bachchan, India’s most popular celebrity, has dominated Hindi cinema since he quit his job as a freight broker in Kolkata and joined Bollywood nearly four decades ago.
The iconic star has acted in nearly 200 films. BBC Online voted him “star of the millennium,” ranking him above such Hollywood legends as Sir Lawrence Olivier and Charlie Chaplin.