'Avatar' actor joins cast of 'Love, Barack' film

Avatar‘s Laz Alonso and Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat are set to star in the political romantic comedy Love, Barack. The story follows the star-crossed love between Sherawat’s Aretha Gupta, an Obama volunteer coordinator, and Alonso’s character, who serves the same position for McCain’s camp, during the 2008 presidential election. The cast is rounded out by American Gangster‘s Ruby Dee, comedian Gerry Bednob (The 40 Year Old Virgin) and Loretta Divine (Crash). New Jack City‘s Doug McHenry will direct the film, penned by If You Only Knew scribe Gary Goldstein. Govind Menon and William Keenan will produce under their U.S.-India company, Nuclear Mango alongside Vikram Singh from Split Image Pictures.