The Mummy’s Imhotep In ‘Ranabaali’?! International Stars Who Entered Indian Cinema
From Arnold Vosloo in ‘Ranabaali’ to Will Smith in ‘Student Of The Year 2’, revisit international actors’ memorable appearances in Indian films.
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Some film appearances make you check the credits twice. A Hollywood action legend turns up to rescue a Bollywood heroine, a familiar television face becomes the villain everyone wants defeated, or an actor from another country steps straight into an Indian love story. The pleasure is in that moment of recognition, and discovering what the filmmaker does with it. That conversation is back with ‘Ranabaali’, which arrived in cinemas today (October 16).
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Starring Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna, Rahul Sankrityan’s period action drama features Arnold Vosloo, better known to many viewers as Imhotep from ‘The Mummy’ films. This time, his menacing presence belongs to a story set against British colonial rule.
From brief, playful cameos to characters who drive the entire plot, here are 20 international performers who found a place in Indian cinema:
1. Arnold Vosloo - Ranabaali
If Vosloo’s face immediately takes you back to ‘The Mummy’, you are in the right movie hall. The South African actor plays Sir Theodore Hector, the colonial antagonist opposing Vijay Deverakonda’s titular character in ‘Ranabaali’. Directed by Rahul Sankrityan and released on October 16, the film also stars Rashmika Mandanna as Jayamma, Ranabaali’s wife. Its famine-era setting gives Vosloo a very different world to inhabit from the supernatural adventures that made him internationally recognisable. There is a distinction worth keeping in mind, though: the film blends historical references with fictionalised events, rather than offering a documentary account of colonial India. Imhotep may be the familiar face drawing attention, but Hector is a separate kind of nightmare.
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2. Sylvester Stallone - Kambakkht Ishq
Bollywood once got Rocky himself to come to Kareena Kapoor Khan’s rescue. In Sabbir Khan’s ‘Kambakkht Ishq’, released on July 3, 2009, Sylvester Stallone appears as himself, bringing some Hollywood muscle to the romantic comedy led by Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor, with Aftab Shivdasani and Amrita Arora in supporting roles. His appearance includes beating up the men threatening Kareena’s character and delivering the film’s Hindi title. Given that Akshay plays a stuntman working in Hollywood, the celebrity encounter has a ready-made excuse within the story. Stallone was also in international company: Denise Richards and Brandon Routh made appearances too. Subtle? Hardly. A gloriously unexpected crossover? Absolutely.
3. Will Smith - Student Of The Year 2
St. Teresa’s already had enough glamour to resemble a fashion campaign, but ‘Student Of The Year 2’ still found room for Will Smith. Directed by Punit Malhotra, the Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria and Ananya Panday starrer released on May 10, 2019, with Will Smith making a brief dance appearance. The visit grew out of his ‘Bucket List’ show, making this a case of a real-life ambition turning into an actual Bollywood credit. Punit Malhotra later recalled the surreal experience of directing him – including telling Will Smith to behave like a star, much to Tiger’s amusement. It is a fleeting appearance rather than a developed character, but a Hollywood superstar joining the college-party atmosphere is quite the attendance bonus.
4. Ben Kingsley - Teen Patti
What happens when Amitabh Bachchan and Ben Kingsley sit down to discuss mathematics? In ‘Teen Patti’, the answer involves probability, temptation and a gambling experiment that gets dangerously out of hand. Directed by Leena Yadav and released on February 26, 2010, the thriller stars Amitabh Bachchan, R. Madhavan and Ben Kingsley, with an ensemble including Shraddha Kapoor and Raima Sen. Ben Kingsley plays Perci Trachtenberg, an eminent mathematician who meets Big B’s reclusive genius Venkat Subramanyam and hears about his discovery. His role helps frame the story, giving the film more than a celebrity walk-on. For viewers accustomed to Kingsley’s Gandhi association, this was a decidedly different Indian-film encounter: fewer history lessons, considerably more dangerous cards.
5. Mike Tyson - Liger
Even Vijay Deverakonda needed a moment to believe Mike Tyson was actually turning up for ‘Liger’. The boxing legend plays Mark Anderson, a fictional fighting icon whom Vijay’s aspiring mixed martial artist idolises, in Puri Jagannadh’s film. Released on August 25, 2022, it also stars Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishnan and Ronit Roy. Tyson’s appearance arrives late in the story, adding a surreal celebrity encounter to the hero’s sporting journey. Off camera, the surprise was rather more practical: Vijay told Bollywood Hungama that Tyson would arrive around 8 am, earlier than the team had expected, forcing everyone to adjust. Ananya remembered him staying on set and being game for the director’s requests.
6. Barbara Mori - Kites
Barbara Mori had considerably more to do than pop in and wave. The Mexican actress played Linda, who presents herself as Natasha, opposite Hrithik Roshan in Anurag Basu’s ‘Kites’, released on May 21, 2010. Also featuring Kangana Ranaut and Kabir Bedi, the romantic thriller follows two opportunists whose attraction sends them fleeing the wealthy family they had hoped to marry into. The language barrier between the Spanish-speaking Linda and Hrithik’s Hindi-and-English-speaking J becomes part of their connection. Anurag Basu said he had watched Barbara Mori’s earlier work before casting her, and that her chemistry with Hrithik prompted him to rethink and improvise scenes.
7. James Cosmo - Jagame Thandhiram
The man ‘Game Of Thrones’ viewers knew as Jeor Mormont took a much nastier assignment in Karthik Subbaraj’s ‘Jagame Thandhiram’. James Cosmo plays Peter, a racist London crime boss who recruits Dhanush’s Madurai gangster Suruli, drawing him into a conflict involving immigrant communities. Co-starring Aishwarya Lekshmi and Joju George, the film premiered directly on Netflix on June 18, 2021. The casting story has a fascinating detour: Subbaraj told Scroll that an early version was set in New York, and he had pursued Robert De Niro and Al Pacino for Peter. Budget and access difficulties helped move the story to London, where Cosmo became its formidable antagonist. That is quite a journey from an American gangster-film dream to a Tamil gangster’s British misadventure.
8. Daniel Caltagirone - Thangalaan
Gold fever gets a recognisable international face in Pa Ranjith’s ‘Thangalaan’, released on August 15, 2024. British actor Daniel Caltagirone, whose credits include ‘The Pianist’, plays Lord Clement, the ambitious colonial figure pursuing gold with the help of Vikram’s ‘Thangalaan’ and his community. Parvathy Thiruvothu, Malavika Mohanan and Pasupathy also star. Clement’s hunger for discovery becomes entangled with the villagers’ struggle for land and dignity, making him central to the conflict. Caltagirone told DT Next that Ranjith asked him to watch Sarpatta Parambarai and assured him the part would avoid a stock English villain. He also described finding the performance through exchanges with his co-stars, rather than arriving with every moment rigidly planned.
9. Amy Jackson - Madrasapattinam
Before Amy Jackson became a familiar name in Indian cinema, she was a teenage model from Liverpool taking an enormous first step. A. L. Vijay’s ‘Madrasapattinam’, released on July 9, 2010, cast her opposite Arya as Amy Wilkinson, a British governor’s daughter who falls in love with an Indian washerman and wrestler. The Tamil period romance places their relationship against the upheaval surrounding Independence. Amy was making her screen debut, which gives this entry a different flavour from a Hollywood celebrity dropping into a song. Vijay had spotted her modelling success and wanted her for the role. Amy later described the overwhelming reception she received while visiting cinemas in southern India.
10. Johnny Trí Nguyễn - 7aum Arivu
A villain who can turn an ordinary road into a death trap needs more than an intimidating stare. Vietnamese-American martial artist and actor Johnny Trí Nguyễn brought his action experience to Dong Lee, the assassin threatening Suriya and Shruti Haasan in A. R. Murugadoss’s ‘7aum Arivu’, released on October 26, 2011. The film mixes a fictionalised Bodhidharma story with a contemporary biological-warfare plot, giving Dong Lee both physical menace and extraordinary hypnotic abilities. Nguyễn told The Times of India that his casting began with a chance meeting with action director Peter Hein in the US; a later phone call led to Murugadoss watching his work and bringing him to Chennai.
11. Nathan Jones - A Flying Jatt
If you are casting someone to make Tiger Shroff’s superhero look physically outmatched, Nathan Jones is a persuasive choice. The Australian wrestler-turned-actor plays Raka, the hulking villain whose strength feeds on pollution, in Remo D’Souza’s ‘A Flying Jatt’, released on August 25, 2016. Tiger Shroff, Jacqueline Fernandez, Amrita Singh and Kay Kay Menon lead the cast around him. Jones had already played Rictus Erectus in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, but told PTI that this Hindi film gave him more action to perform. He was less confident about attempting the dancing demonstrated by Tiger and Remo.
12. Danny Sapani - Singam II
Suriya’s Durai Singam does not do small-scale confrontations, so Danny Sapani arrived with an appropriately international threat. The British actor of Ghanaian heritage plays Danny, an elusive international smuggler, in Hari’s ‘Singam II’, released on July 5, 2013, alongside Suriya, Anushka Shetty and Hansika Motwani. Sapani told The New Indian Express that he initially wondered how a Tamil filmmaker had found him, having worked largely in Britain. Watching the original Singam helped persuade him: he understood the need for a villain big enough to challenge its hero. His character’s strategy of remaining at sea to evade the authorities adds a distinctive wrinkle.
13. Paul Blackthorne - Lagaan
Some actors need years to find a line audiences remember. Paul Blackthorne got a tax demand that Indian film fans have been quoting for decades. He plays Captain Andrew Russell, the arrogant British officer whose cricket challenge puts a village’s future at stake, in Ashutosh Gowariker’s ‘Lagaan’, released on June 15, 2001, starring Aamir Khan and Gracy Singh, with Rachel Shelley. Russell’s contempt makes every small victory by Bhuvan’s inexperienced team feel sweeter. Behind that convincing hostility was considerable preparation: Blackthorne said he spent three months rehearsing his Hindi lines and also had to learn horse-riding. His association with the film endured well beyond its release – he returned to India for its 25th-anniversary celebrations in 2026.
14. Rachel Shelley - Lagaan
While Russell wanted the villagers crushed, his sister quietly helped them learn the rules. Rachel Shelley plays Elizabeth Russell in Ashutosh Gowariker’s ‘Lagaan’, the Aamir Khan-Gracy Singh starrer released on June 15, 2001. Elizabeth’s support is vital to Bhuvan’s team, while her feelings for him bring a gentler, bittersweet strand to the sprawling cricket drama. Shelley’s character also provides a contrast to the colonial arrogance embodied by Paul Blackthorne’s captain: the siblings are on opposing sides of the film’s moral argument. Viewers who later knew Shelley as Helena Peabody in ‘The L Word’ had a very different performance waiting in her filmography.
15. Alice Patten - Rang De Basanti
Without Alice Patten’s Sue, the friends in ‘Rang De Basanti’ would never have received their unusual casting call. She plays the young British filmmaker who travels to India to make a film about revolutionaries after reading her grandfather’s diaries. Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and released on January 26, 2006, the film stars Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor, Sharman Joshi and Atul Kulkarni, with R. Madhavan in a pivotal role. Sue’s project becomes the doorway through which the carefree group begins examining its own country and responsibilities. This was Patten’s first feature film, and she later credited the experience with helping prepare her for a successful West End audition.
16. Toby Stephens - Mangal Pandey: The Rising
After playing Bond villain Gustav Graves in ‘Die Another Day’, Toby Stephens found himself on more sympathetic ground opposite Aamir Khan. He portrays Captain William Gordon, the British officer whose friendship with Pandey is tested by Company rule, in Ketan Mehta’s ‘Mangal Pandey: The Rising’, released on August 12, 2005. Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji and Ameesha Patel also star. Gordon gives the film a relationship built around loyalty, obligation and divided allegiances, rather than another straightforward colonial antagonist. Mehta told Rediff that the screen character was substantially fictionalised, with the friendship developed from limited historical material. Stephens also worked with dialogue in English, Hindi and Urdu.
17. Lloyd Owen - Thugs Of Hindostan
Before audiences saw him as Elendil in ‘The Rings Of Power’, Lloyd Owen had already crossed swords with an enormous Hindi-film ensemble. He plays John Clive, the ruthless East India Company antagonist, in Vijay Krishna Acharya’s ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’, released on November 8, 2018. The adventure stars Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh, with Owen supplying the colonial threat around which its rebellion and double-crosses unfold. The role places him opposite both Big B’s Azaad and Aamir’s slippery Firangi, whose loyalties keep the story moving. It is an intriguing earlier stop for anyone discovering Owen through Middle-earth: before the noble sea captain came a considerably less honourable representative of imperial power.
18. Ray Stevenson - RRR
‘RRR’ needed an antagonist who could make its heroes’ rebellion feel urgent, and Ray Stevenson’s Governor Scott Buxton supplied plenty of reasons to root against him. In SS Rajamouli’s film, released on March 25, 2022, Scott represents the brutal colonial power confronting Jr NTR and Ram Charan, with Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn also in the cast. Viewers familiar with Stevenson as Volstagg in the ‘Thor’ films encountered a far colder figure here. His imposing presence suited a film that rarely did anything by halves. Stevenson died in May 2023; Rajamouli and Jr NTR subsequently paid tribute to him, remembering the energy and experience he brought to their collaboration.
19. Alison Doody - RRR
Alison Doody’s Catherine Buxton makes a strong case for being every bit as frightening as her husband. The actress familiar to ‘Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade’ viewers as Elsa Schneider plays the governor’s cruel wife in SS Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’, released on March 25, 2022, starring Jr NTR and Ram Charan, alongside Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn. Catherine’s appetite for punishment – including the demand for a more vicious whipping during Bheem’s public flogging – gives the film some of its ugliest displays of colonial entitlement. Doody commits to the character’s theatrical nastiness, making Catherine an active participant in the oppression rather than a decorative figure beside Scott.
20. Olivia Morris - RRR
After all that villainy, Olivia Morris’s Jennifer, affectionately called Jenny, brings some warmth to RRR’s British social circle. She plays Bheem’s love interest, with Jr NTR and Ram Charan leading SS Rajamouli’s film, released on March 25, 2022, and Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn among the supporting cast. Jenny’s kindness and Bheem’s awkward attempts to communicate with her allow the epic to pause for romance and humour. She is also part of the social gathering that becomes the setting for the spectacular ‘Naatu Naatu’ sequence. For Morris, this was a feature-film debut on a remarkable scale. Her appearance is a reminder of how varied these collaborations can be: sometimes the international newcomer gets to offer a welcome smile amid all the flying fists.
