As James Cameron’s “Avatar’ breaks box office records in India, here’s an interesting piece of news– one of the actors in the film has Indian roots.

L.A. born actor Dileep Rao who plays Dr Max Patel in Avatar is the son of an engineer-father and physicist-mother who hail originally from Karnataka

Rao plays a conscientious scientist who lends a helping hand to Jack Sully, the film’s protagonist, in the fight to protect the Na’vi community and its resources in the planet Pandora from the greedy humans.

Avatar is Rao’s debut on the silver screen and he will next be seen in films directed by Sam Raimi of “Spider-Man” and Christopher Nolan of “The Dark Knight” and “Memento.”

Rao is obviously very excited with the smashing reviews to his debut film. The actor landed a role in Cameron’s Avatar after an audition and was asked to choose his last name. He told a Bangalore based publication, “Cameron allowed me to choose the surname and I chose a common one that wouldn’t be hard to pronounce for the Western audience. We discussed the role in depth and worked it out on the set every day, but he gave me the room to bring my ideas into it.”

Talking about Avatar, Rao exclaims, “It is (the movie) a transporting, mesmerizing film of epic proportions. You must see it to understand how incredible its visual power is and how surprisingly emotional the picture becomes.”

Describing how he and the rest of the cast worked in the film, he says: “We just approached it with the clarity the team created. It’s a whole new world in terms of what can be done and how it can fit together. You have to be on your toes but the process is surprisingly clear.”

Sharing screen space with legends like Sigourney Weaver has been quite an experience for the actor. “She is a gracious and brilliant actress of great experience. It’s a real lesson in how to do the job and be an artist,” he said.

‘Avatar’ opened on Dec 18 in India and has grossed Rs 220 million in weekend collections, making it the Biggest ever weekend opening for any Hollywood film in India.

-Sampurn Media