8 times Hollywood stars headed to Bollywood

Will Smith: Producer Karan Johar pulled off a casting coup when he roped in Hollywood actor Will Smith to shake a leg in his movie ‘Student of the Year 2’ (‘SOTY2’). Even before the release of the film last year, a video of Smith dancing with the cast of the romantic drama went viral. “Smith shot for a Facebook show called ‘Bucket List’. One of his wishes on that list was to dance on a Bollywood song,” Johar said during the trailer launch of ‘SOTY2’. “Fortunately, I know Will Smith for a few years now, and when his team got in touch with us, we were shooting for ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’. He came and rehearsed for ‘Radhaa’ [a song from 2012’s ‘Student of the Year’], and there is synergy between the two films. He came and shot that.”

Denise Richards: You may be excused for forgetting this film, but ‘Kambakkht Ishq’ — that starred Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor Khan in the lead — featured the ‘Wild Things’ star as well, who wanted to have our heroes Indian babies. No, we aren’t making this up. The cameo in this 2009 film still haunts us.

Sylvester Stallone: While on ‘Kambakkht Ishq’, which featured a bevy of stars that included Brandon Routh, hot on the heels his turn as Superman, the film also featured a certain 80s and 90s Hollywood action star who walked on to the screen toting a gun and oozing attitude. Frankly, this was the only moment in the film that had us riveted.

Ali Larter: You may remember her from ‘Heroes’ or on ‘The Rookie’ these days, but Ali Larter also had her Bollywood debut back in 2007 with a romantic comedy with none other than Salman Khan. ‘Marigold’ made no great waves at the box office and neither did Larter, who returned to the US and took on ‘Heroes’. The rest, as they say, is history.

Clive Standen: Before he was Private Harris on ‘Doctor Who’ or Archer on ‘Robin Hood’, this English actor played Charlie Brown (no, not the cartoon character) in ‘Namastey London’, where he romanced Katrina Kaif. Bollywood went bust and he soon found Bryan Mills in the NBC series ‘Taken’, based on the film trilogy of the same name.

Annabelle Wallis: You may love her as Grace Burgess on ‘Peaky Blinders’ or remember her with Tom Cruise in ‘The Mummy’ (2017) or on ‘Annabelle’ (2014), but way back when her Hollywood career was all but a twinkle in the eyes of her agent, Wallis starred in the highly forgettable 2005 Bollywood film ‘Dil Jo Bhi Kahey...’, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Revathy and Karan Sharma. The film sank without a trace, as did Sharma’s career and Wallis’ Bollywood dreams.

Ben Kingsley: This award-winning actor is best known for his role as Gandhi in the 1982 film, which won him the Academy Award for Best Actor, a Golden Globe, BAFTA and a London Film Critics’ Circle Award. But in 2010, Kingsley found himself in Bollywood, sharing screen space with Amitabh Bachchan in the 2010 Bollywood movie, ‘Teen Patti’.

Sarah Thompson: The American actress famously played Eve on the hit CW show ‘Angel’, along with landing a role in ‘Cruel Intentions 2’. But Bollywood also ended up on her CV when filmmaker Prakash Jha signed her up for the 2010 political drama, ‘Rajneeti’, which saw her play Ranbir Kapoor’s American girlfriend.