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BBC News Online: Entertainment: Film


Friday, 28 September, 2001, 16:50 GMT 17:50 UK

Bollywood icon to star in Godfather


Amitabh Bachchan
Bachchan has starred in more than 200 films
Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan is to play the role made famous by Marlon Brando in a Hindi version of The Godfather.

The 1972 original was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starred Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone with Al Pacino playing his son.

Don Corleone
Bachchan's son, Abhishek, is to play the son in Kutumb (Family) which will go into production early next year.

Producer AG Nadiadwala said that though Kutumb is based on the original film: "It will be an Indian version with songs, action, comedy."

The Godfather is based on Mario Puzo's best-selling novel charting the turf wars of Italian mafia families in the US.

It is a chilling portrait of the Corleone family's rise and near fall and the passage of power from patriarch to son.

Kutumb is to be directed by the prolific and highly successful director Mahesh Manjrekar.

Amitabh Bachchan started acting more than 30 years ago, and in the 1970s he was the biggest film star in India.

His persona as the "angry young man" carried him through dozens of films and brought him a passionate following from millions of fans.

Amitabh Bachchan poster
When he was seriously injured whilst filming the movie Coolie in 1983, thousands held a vigil outside the hospital where he was being cared for. National news issued regular updates on his recovery.

By the end of the 1980s his career had peaked and he turned his attention towards politics.

Supporting Rajiv Gandhi, he won a parliamentary seat but eventually returned to the cinema.

He then became presenter of the hugely popular Indian version of Who Want to be a Millionaire.

Bachchan won a BBC News Online users poll for star of the millennium.


Related to this story:
Star to stay on Indian Millionaire show (29 Sep 00 | South Asia) Bollywood's wax dreams (23 Mar 00 | South Asia) Bollywood star tops the poll (01 Jul 99 | Entertainment) Wax debut for Bollywood star (20 Dec 00 | Entertainment) Bollywood superstar 'surprised' by vote (15 Jul 99 | South Asia)


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