Media Release
Nevada, Feb 27: American singer-songwriter Akon (Locked Up) is reportedly appearing in Bollywood big-budget action film “Ra.One”, starring megastar Shahrukh Khan.
Akon, 36, and Shahrukh reportedly recently met in Los Angeles (USA). Akon, besides one song, will reportedly also form part of the cast. Directed by Anubhav Sinha (Tum Bin), science-fiction superhero hi-tech film “Ra.One” is written by David Benullo (Shadow Man), cinematography by Ueli Steiger (The Maiden Heist), and music by Vishal-Shekhar. Besides Shahrukh, it also reportedly stars Filmfare winners Kareena Kapoor (Jab We Met) and Vivek Oberoi (Company).
Shahrukh reportedly plays a Miami software engineer Shekhar in the film, who as a video-game hero takes on his self-created techno-monster “Ra.One”. Shooting locations include Miami (Florida, USA) and Shahrukh’s wife Gauri Khan (Billu) is the producer.
Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed, welcoming this Bollywood-Hollywood music collaboration, pointed out in a statement today that while adapting to Western music, we should not completely forget India’s rich musical heritage, elements of whose theory go back to Sama-Veda.
Grammy nominated Akon of Senegal background, born as Aliaune Badara Akon Thiam, has 40 “Billboard Hot 100” songs. Various other international pop stars have done numbers for Bollywood in the past, like Samantha Fox (Rock Dancer), Snoop Dogg (Singh is Kinng), and Kylie Minogue (Blue).