Anupam Kher announces his 500th film

Houston: Actor Anupam Kher has reached yet another milestone in his illustrious acting career by signing up another Hollywood film "The Big Sick", which happens to be his 500th film.

The 61-year-old actor, who started his career 32 years back with award winning movie "Saaransh", will be sharing screen space with Hollywood actors Holly Hunter, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano, Kumail Nanjiani and Adeel Akhtar among others.

Judd Apatow is producing the film?based off Nanjiani and Gordon's own relationship as a Pakistani-born man and a American woman. Kher is playing the role of Kumail Nanjiani's father. Romano and Hunter will be essaying Kazan's character's parents.

Nanjiani is a Pakistani-American stand-up comedian, actor and podcast host married to Emily V Gordon, an author, comedy producer, and former couples and family therapist. The is the booker and producer of "The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail", a comedy show that began airing on Comedy Central in July 2014. Barry Mendel is also producing the project, which is being financed by FilmNation.

Kher, who is in New York these days, told PTI over phone about his 500th movie.

"Doing 500 films in 32 years has been an awesome journey. It shows the kind of life I have had. I'm happy that my 500th landmark film is a Hollywood project. It's not that if it was a Hindi film, it would have not been important. But I have done a lot of work in Hindi cinema, and now I am looking at newer avenues. It happened by chance that this film worked out around this time."

Kher shared a You Tube message by veteran Hollywood actor Robert De Niro, congratulating him on his 500th film. "Congratulations for finishing your 500th film, it is an amazing thing to do. In America i have done 95 movies, but doing 500 is incredible", said De Niro.