Overseas, the big media news involving the 2012 Warner Bros. remake of The Great Gatsby has nothing to do with Leonardo DiCaprio or Tobey Maguire. Rather, it involves Bollywood film superstar Amitabh Bachchan (pictured) and what will amount to the actor’s first-ever Hollywood film appearance.

A titan of India’s movie industry, Bachchan has agreed to play the one-scene role of Meyer Wolfsheim, for free. On his blog, he describes how casually the whole thing came about:

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.

Bachchan goes on to downplay the industry significance of the part and suggests that people should not look to Hollywood for any kind of Bollywood validation. Especially since India’s film industry is already the world’s largest.