Bollywood Star Amitabh Bachchan Is the New Voice of Amazon’s Alexa
- Bachchan’s voice will feature on Amazon’s smart speaker
- The 77-year-old actor is often likened to India’s De Niro
Photographer: Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images
Amazon.com Inc. has signed up India’s biggest movie star Amitabh Bachchan for its Alexa voice assistant in a bid to lure users in the world’s second-most populated nation to its services.
The 77-year-old Bollywood patriarch’s image is ubiquitous across the country on advertisements for everything from hair oil, cement to even an UNICEF-backed polio vaccination campaign. Amazon expects his universal appeal to help it take on rivals Apple Inc.’s Siri and Alphabet Inc.’s Google Assistant.
“The baritone that has enchanted the Indian film industry for over five decades,” will be available to the many Indian customers who use Alexa, Amazon said on its India blog on Monday. Users will be able to access “Mr. Bachchan’s iconic voice on Alexa by purchasing the Amitabh Bachchan voice experience,” according to the blog.