Cannes

by Alex Deleon <filmfestivals.com>

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, all well and good, but Indian reports on the ongoing Cannes film festival have been far more interested in the fact that 70 year old Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan appears in the film, even if it's in a one scene cameo you might miss if you blinked twice and weren't waiting for this as the high point of the picture (as many Indians will be). 

Bachchan (left) as shady Jewish “business associate” Meyer Wolfsheim with Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio in his one GREAT GATSBY scene.

Australian director Baz Luhrman is a self confessed fan of Bollywood films and the dazzling color that is the earmark of his own films is a direct influence from the Bollywood musical extravaganzas he so ardently admires. His multi prize winner Moulin Rouge (2000) was in a way a hommage to Bollywood in its entire staging, color saturation, production numbers, and it even had a complete Bollywood song in it. In his latest offering, "The Great Gatsby", (or is it now "The Greatest Gatsby"?) -- his nod to Bollywood takes the form of having Bollywood's most famous actor, Amitabh Bachchan, appear in it albeit in a role that is merely a cameo. However, Bachchan does get fifth billing in the title credits along with the other main performers, Dicaprio, Maguire & Co.

In India Amitabh Bachchan is more than mere megastar, he is a national Institution often referred to simply as the Big 'B' one letter being enough to identify the subject. When he was seriously injured on the set of a picture in 1984 and was near death the entire nation prayed for him to recover, and he did so, amazingly. Not only does he have a track record of Bollywood box-office blockbusters going back some forty years, among them the most famous Indian film of all time "Sholay" (the 'Curry Western') but he is also a gigantic TV star as host of the super popular quiz show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' ("Who Will Be a Bilionaire?") which was showcased in Danny Boyle's Oscar winning 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Bachchan's screen aura is so commanding that even now at age seventy when most contemporaries would settle for walk-on character roles he is still able to be a convincing leading man or play a patriarch towering over top stars half his age. So why did the Indian megastar accept what amounts to little more than a walk-on in Gatsby?

This is a tricky question open to all sorts of speculation not the least of which might be: Does Bollywood, with all its blazing bravura and homegrown star adulation, still have a kind of inferiority complex vis-a-vis Hollywood? There is no doubt that even an internationally popular actor like Leonardo Dicaprio is still not half as popular in India as maybe ten or twenty of the leading Bollywood actors and yet ... a superduperstar like Amitabh Bachchan is willing to sit there alongside Leonardo and bask in the sunshine of his glory for less than five minutes in a two hour picture? There must be a good reason ....

Part of it is undoubtedly the fact that Bachchan is desirous of finally getting some high profile exposure in the West where he remains an unknown in spite of his godlike status at home and elsewhere -- before it's too late!
The question is, will this picture because of its glaring notoriety establish his name in the west as well --and the answer is, probably not -- anymore than anybody (except for Indians) remembers that he was actually In SlumDog Millionaire --  for a few seconds only --but a major reference point in the picture.

The real Amitabh Bachchan at the premiere of “The Great Gatsby” in New York City

It turns out that in line with his fascination for Bollywood Mr. Luhrman took the trouble of looking Mr. Bachchan up on a trip to India and offered him an appearance in his next big project, Gatsby. Mr. Bachchan being no dummy when it comes to knowledge of international cinema, realized that this was going to be an international blockbuster and probably figured he had nothing to lose by accepting even a small role in it ... and just possibly some of the Western recognition he craves might come his way simply by appearing in a scene with Spiderman Maguire and Titanic star Dicaprio -- in addition, having his name right up there in the main titles as if he had a major part in the picture, - which was probably the only condition laid down in his understanding with Mr. Luhrman.
We can imagine a scene that went something like this:
"Well, look Mr. Amitabh sahib, I can't give you much of a part --it's only one scene -- but you get to look really bad -- I guarantee you that -- people will remember this scene. You play a notorious Jewish gangster, and you dress like one, to the hilt -- and you get to sit and shmooze with Maguire and Dicaprio, in this sleazy club you run --and to make sure we sell a lot of tickets in India we can put your name up there in Big Letters in the main credits -- how would that be?" --
"That sounds very good to me Mr. Baz-jee -- especially the main credit part -- so I will be glad to make myself available to you, Baz sahib -- er, uh -- Do I get paid for this? --
"Well, we can certainly take care of all your travel expenses and all that -- New York, Cannes, You know ... the works! -- (cut to pen signing verbal contract on restaurant napkin).

As the scene was actually shot we see an extreme bug-eyed close-up of Amitabh's eyes literally bulging out under his wide brimmed straw hat, showing white around the edge of the iris, like cataracts -- sinister to say the least and not terribly flattering as far as the standard Bachchan image on screen is concerned ... almost frightening, but then this Meyer Wolfsheim is no patsy -- he Is sinister -- after all he arranged the fix of the World Series in 1919 -- All this goes by very quickly and will probably horrify many of Bachchan's faithful Indian fans who will wonder if he is not seriously ill -- but there he is, full blast for five minutes in the Great Gatsby -- in 3D no less!  Whether anybody but Indians or Bollywood fans will remember this small scene is another question but there it is -- Amitabh Bachchan in The Great Gatsby.

And that is the big entertainment news in India this week.

SPECIAL BACHCHAN POSTER TO PUMP GATSBY IN INDIA

The star-actor insists modestly that he doesn’t deserve a solo poster for starring in a bit role in the Hollywood film but here it is at Luhrman's behest -- Won't hurt business in India, that's for sure!