On Feb 15 when India plays a cricket match against Pakistan in Adelaide, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan will be doing the commentary alongside stalwarts of the cricket-commentary world Harsh Bhogle and Kapil Dev. Shamitabh director R. Balakrishnan is happy. This is part of an integration between broadcaster Star Sports and the makers of Big B’s forthcoming film Shamitabh.

Talking about the change of pace for India’s best-known baritone, filmmakerBalakrishnan aka Balki, said, “Mr. Bachchan’s voice is the star of my film Shamitabh. The plot revolves around the baritone. I personally feel, and there are millions who will agree with me, that there is nothing that Mr. Bachchan’s voice can’t do. He has done voiceovers in many feature films and has also lent his voice to documentaries and social causes. The one thing that he hadn’t done was cricket commentary. The idea of getting the 72-year-old thespian was to do something universally appealing, and it works as a double strategy — it not only serves as a great promotion of Shamitabh it also binds India and Pakistan together. I think the two voices of Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachchan unite India and Pakistan better than anything else.”

Shamitabh, releasing Friday, also stars Dhanush and marks the debut of Akshara Haasan in filmdom.