Amitabh, Aishwarya, Karan Johar, Imtiaz Ali join in for a selfie with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

While presenting the opportunity for Hindi cinema to take up Israel as a filming destination, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu took up the chance of creating an epic selfie.

Posing alongside stars like Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, CBFC chairperson Prasoon Joshi, directors Karan Johar, Madhur Bhandarkar and Imtiaz Ali, as well as producer Ronnie Screwvala, the prime minister seemed to be aiming to better the Ellen DeGeneres's iconic 'Oscar selfie' from 2014. 

The prime minister posted the picture on his official Twitter handle alongwith the post 'Will my Bollywood selfie beat @TheEllenShow Hollywood selfie at the Oscars? @SrBachchan @juniorbachchan @rajcheerfull @imbhandarkar @vivek_oberoi' 

Netanyahu was attending the 'Shalom Bollywood' event held in Mumbai on 18 January to position Israel as a possible destination for filmmakers from India. Speaking at the event, the prime minister said, "We believe in Bollywood. World loves Bollywood. Israel loves Bollywood. We want Bollywood in Israel. We are putting our money where our mouth is." 

Right after his speech, Netanyahu invited the stars gathered at the event onto the dais to recreate the epic Ellen DeGeneres selfie at the 2014 Oscar ceremony that went viral on the internet. 

"I want everyone in India and Israel to know about the phenomenal friendship between our countries. So I've an idea. One of the most viral pictures took place at the Oscars where several celebrities took a selfie together," he said. 

Among the others included in the selfie were Sara Ali Khan, filmmakers Nikkhil Advani, Abhishek Kapoor, and Subhash Ghai. 

The selfie also stands out for the presence of actor Vivek Oberoi and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan in the same screen. The actors have avoided each other at public events thus far, since the very public breakup of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vivek Oberoi. 

Pointing to Amitabh's popular presence on Twitter, Netanyahu said that the actor has "30 million more followers than me on Twitter." 

Also present at the event were India's prime minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.