Amitabh Bachchan the Marlon Brando of India, Tom Hanks the Amitabh Bachchan of America: Baz Luhrmann
A still from The Great Gatsby featuring Amitabh Bachchan (Courtesy: YouTube)
New Delhi:
According to Hollywood filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, there is no dearth of excellence for Amitabh Bachchan – Marlon Brando and India’s Elvis Presley. The Moulin Rouge director is fresh off the success of Elvis, a biopic of the late great King of Rock and Roll starring Austin Butler as the singer and Tom Hanks as his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. However, it was Big B who was on Baz Luhrmann’s mind while talking to NDTV. Amitabh Bachchan played a small but impressive role in Mr Luhrmann’s succulent adaptation of The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo in 2013 and he clearly made an impression. Baz Luhrmann said, “I think Amitabh Bachchan is not only the Elvis of India but also the Marlon Brando of India.”
Baz Luhrmann compared Amitabh Bachchan and undoubtedly Tom Hanks, not only describing them as “similar”, but also calling Tom Hanks “America’s Amitabh Bachchan”.
“Tom Hanks is easily the Amitabh Bachchan of America and I mean it. I keep talking about Amitabh Bachchan because I miss him so much and I know the family has gone through a lot. I haven’t heard from him long ago. “I think of him and I think of Tom, they are very similar,” said Baz Luhrmann. that great gatsby on set. i remember a moment between him and leonardo and that was a cool conversation i knew leonardo felt he was listening to wisdom and tom did the exact same thing with austin in elvis It is very touching and very rare when an old actor is passing the baton to the new generation.”
Rewind for a moment in 2013 – Amitabh Bachchan was cast as Jay Gatsby’s mentor Meyer Wolfsheim, a role that was limited to just one scene, but was so larger than life that his presence beat everyone else at the New York premiere made a dwarf. Fans of Amitabh Bachchan thronged the premiere venue to experience Hollywood’s taste of Bollywood fantasy, which brought them the most joy. As Big B later tweeted, the US media thought Leonardo DiCaprio had arrived.
T1096 – Thank you my FE, and thank you to those who made their lungs happy!! American media thought Leonardo had come, when there was noise.
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) May 2, 2013
T1096 – Back from the TGG premiere and must have said.. FE was the main attraction.. Simply Fabulous! American media, fans, security in shock
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) May 2, 2013
Back to Baz Luhrmann’s interview with NDTV. When asked why he chose to depict the point of view of Elvis’ manager in the film, Mr. Luhrmann said, “Amitabh Bachchan will understand that behind every great star there is this issue between business and show, art and commerce. No matter what. It doesn’t matter if there is a world of entertainment in India or here in America this relationship can be great but when that relationship becomes unbalanced when it is only about money then it can be disastrous that is what happens in this journey. In this story, you see this wonderful rise to stardom but this relationship leads to a sad conclusion for both of them.”
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was released in Indian cinemas on June 24.