LEKHA SHANKAR

 The great Amitabh Bachchan plays a Jewish mobster, in Cannes Festival's Opening Film ' The Great Gatsby' !

Tomorrow, is the Opening Night of The Cannes Festival, and all eyes will be on Baz Luhrmann's spectacular,3D version of 'The Great Gatsby' , the Opening film, based on the famed novel by Scott Fitzgerald. The film has already been released in the US and UK, and clicked well at the box-office,even if the reviews have been mixed.

For Indian audiences around the world,, the chief attraction will be the legendary Amitabh Bachchan,in a tiny cameo role as Meyer Wolfshiem,a Jewish mobster, which the actor said he did for pure pleasure,and no payment! He informed that he had met Baz Luhrmann in Mumbai,a few years back,when the latter was on a holiday-tour of the country. 

The next thing he knew,was that he was offered this small role which Luhrmann had told him,was not really 'worthy' of his stature. But the Indian actor accepted the role,and described the experience as ' fantastic.'

To quote him,in his blog - " Recreating a period gone by is always such a challenge. The research, the search of documentation, of the written word of the times, the dress, speech, ambience, is a nightmare for the production. But I must give great credit to Baz for having taken and gone into a most extensive and exacting procedure in getting each little aspect of the times of the 20’s and 30’s New York to perfection! ” 

Even more 'memorable' he tweeted, was the New York premiere, when his Indian fans lined the streets outside the theatre, and roared and clapped in delight. Infact,the Western media thought,mistakenly, that the applause was for the lead-star of the film, Leonardo da Capri !

One can't wait to hear his tweets,after the Cannes Opening,especially as he will be accompanied by gorgeous,superstar daughter-in-law,Aishwarya Rai, who is a 'regular' at the festival.                           

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