No fee for Big B in his Hollywood debut!

Zeenews Bureau

Mumbai: Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan, who is all set to make his Hollywood debut in the film ‘The Great Gatsby’ said it will be a friendly appearance. On Sunday night, the actor wrote on his blog, “My participation in Baz Luhrmann`s film `The Great Gatsby` is a mere one scene appearance as a friendly gesture. Baz Luhrmann during his private visit to India last year, had dropped by my office to meet me and presented me with some paintings of a prominent painter that was accompanying him. He called last month and wondered if I would do this small role in his film and I agreed. It is a gesture. I have refused any remuneration on this too." He is also not sure if presence of Indian actors in Hollywood films will bring worldwide acceptance. He writes: "It remains to be seen. I do believe that this phenomenon already exists. Indian actors are a recognizable force outside Indian shores as well. I may be wrong in my assessment here, but it has been statistically proven that a larger number of the world population watches Indian movies as opposed to Hollywood - 3.8 billion to 3.2 billion. Indian films have been a significant part of the lives of various countries." Bachchan also feels that foreign actor don`t get much desired due from Hollywood. He writes: "How many foreign stars have you noticed gaining prominence in Hollywood apart from that odd Omar Sharif, Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee? Even British artistes, which really should be considered, nation wise, as individuals from the same community, have a limited presence. And how many Hollywood stars do we see in our films? Forget Hollywood, even artistes from regional cinema in India have a rare presence in our own films - Hindi film artistes in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam or Bengali films and vice versa."