The Big B's roles get more interesting by the year. The latest one that has landed in his kitty will have him playing a con artiste. He will be playing a maestro among swindlers in the Hindi remake of the hit Miguel Bardem Spanish crime thriller Swindled (2004).
Producer Bunty Walia has already purchased the rights of the film and Bachchan will play the role of Fedrico (enacted by Federico Luppi) in the original. Interestingly, Abhishek Bachchan is also doing a remake of a heist film.
Titled Players and directed by Abbas-Mustan, it will be an adaptation of the Michael Caine-starrer The Italian Job.
Walia claims to have ensured he got official rights to adapt Swindled, so that Bachchan doesn't face any embarrassment, like he did with Ek Ajnabee (2004).
Ek Ajnabee, also produced by Bunty Walia was a copy of the Denzel Washington-starrer Man On Fire.
Walia says, "That (Ek Ajnabee) was a total ripoff. We can't do that anymore, specially not when prestigious names are involved. As for the casting, I can't mention any names at the moment."
However, according to a source, the desi version of Swindled will star Walia's girlfriend and upcoming model Debi Dutta. Dutta will play the female lead.
When quizzed, Walia refused to speak about whether he was casting Dutta.
"Why would I not cast her if I have a suitable role? Everyone casts their near and dear ones in their films. Also, Debi is a young and goodlooking aspiring actress. So why not?"
A few months ago, according to reports, Dutta had dumped Walia after not making any headway in her career, despite being his girlfriend. Walia had then apparently won her back with the promise that he would cast her in his next production.
