Amitabh Bachchan in Nagraj Manjule’s Hindi directorial debut

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will star in Marathi director Nagraj Manjule’s maiden Hindi film. The 39-year-old critically-acclaimed director, best known for his Marathi films Fandry and Sairat, took to Facebook to announce the news. “My favourite actor (referring to Bachchan) since childhood, whose films I grew up on, will now be the hero of my first Hindi film. I cannot be happier,” wrote Manjule.

The filmmaker also reminisced his childhood memories and recalled how they were associated with the veteran actor. He shared that he used to entertain his friends by telling them stories from Bachchan’s films such as Don, Coolie, Satte Pe Satta, Shehenshah, Laawaris, Kaalia and Sharaabi. “When I watched Deewar, I started going to school with a knot in my shirt and would keep it despite getting a thrashing from my teacher.”

Bachchan had praised the director for his National Award-winning movie, Sairat in January this year on Twitter. “Oh! And saw the film Sairat, the Marathi wonder... What a great cinematic experience... What a movie!” he had written.