India's best-known actor, Amitabh Bachchan, is to take an unpaid role in Baz Luhrmann's retelling of F Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale of the gilded jazz age, The Great Gatsby.

The Bollywood legend revealed on his blog that he had "refused any remuneration" for his portrayal of shady businessman Meyer Wolfsheim in the new film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the enigmatic Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway and Carey Mulligan as the shallow-but-alluring Daisy Buchanan. Bachchan said he had agreed to join the cast – in his Hollywood debut – as a favour to Luhrmann.

"Baz Luhrmann, during his private visit to India last year, had dropped by my office to meet me and presented me with some paintings of a prominent painter who was accompanying him," Bachchan wrote. "He called last month and wondered if I would do this small role in his film, and I agreed. It is a gesture." The actor said he had travelled to Sydney to read the script with the cast and take part in costume rehearsals. "It has been a wonderful experience to be a part of their system and to observe with what detail and diligence they work," he wrote.

Luhrmann's film, which has a reported budget of $126m, is currently being shot in Sydney. Previous reports have suggested that the Australian director is considering shooting sections in 3D. The project is the fourth time Fitzgerald's tale of the roaring 20s has been filmed for the big screen. Earlier versions include a 1926 silent film and a 1949 iteration starring Alan Ladd and Betty Field. Perhaps the best-known version – though by no means the best-received – is the 1974 Jack Clayton-directed film starring Robert Redford as Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy.