The news that Amitabh Bachchan’s deep baritone will be heard speaking in English must surely please his millions of fans. By signing up for The Great Gatsby under the direction of Baz Luhrman the superstar has added another feather to his cap, though of course he didn’t need the endorsement of a foreign film to confirm his iconic status.
The new project, based on the novel The Great Gatsby, is a truly international one. Bachchan is Indian, Luhrman Australian, the other co-star Leonardo DiCaprio is from the United States, and female lead Carey Mulligan hails from Britain. Luhrman himself is quite a fan of Indian cinema — he used Indian motifs in his winner Moulin Rouge and gave it the full Bollywood treatment, with its songs, garish colours and over-the-top melodrama.
Choosing to make The Great Gatsby is an intriguing idea. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel about a reclusive and shady millionaire who throws lavish parties which he does not attend himself reflected America’s gilded age. The rich and beautiful people, the expansive homes and expensive clothes, the Jazz Age — it all looks so out of tune today. America is now dangerously close to a recession; indeed it is India which is enjoying an economic boom. So will the scene shift to India? If so, Bachchan could teach Gatsby and Daisy the tricks of romancing, Indian style.