India is the new flavour in Hollywood: R Madhavan

Actor R Madhavan says filmmakers in West have realised the potential of Indian actors being able to take a film to wider audience which is why they want to rope them in Hollywood films.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan and others have been part of Hollywood films. Now, Madhavan is set to do 'Night Of The Living Dead: Origins', produced by Simon West of 'Con Air' and 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' fame. It is a remake of 1968 zombie film 'Night Of The Living Dead'.
"India has become the flavour in Hollywood... They (filmmakers) suddenly realised that Indian actors get more eyeballs than Hollywood actors," he said in an interview here.

"So, if they have an Indian actor in their TV series for example, it gets watched in Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Africa, South Africa much more than if American actors are there," he explained.
"Like by having Mr Amitabh Bachchan in 'The Great Gatsby', the number of people watching the film online or offline increases 25 times, that is where the money is. So now they are including Indian as well as Chinese actors, which is a very smart thing," he said.
The 43-year-old actor said he is doing a film in Hollywood just to experience working in a different set up.

"It is just another opportunity to do a film in different language that I am comfortable with. If I could speak Chinese, I would have done a film in that language as well. The excitement is to do a film in different set of technology. I am not doing it to prove a point to anyone... It is basically a small film in terms of what it is in Hollywood," he said.
The Hollywood venture happened by chance for Madhavan, who had gone there for a personal reason and through his friend he met filmmaker Simon West.