Cannes,  Jackie Shroff will play the lead in a Singapore-France-India co-production titled 'Slow Joe', which will be released in French, English and Konkani, reports 'Variety'. The film, a biopic, will be produced by Shreyasi Sengupta for Darpan Global (Singapore), it was announced at the Cannes Marche du Film.

The Bollywood star will play the late Goan musician, Joseph Manuel Da Rocha, who was known as Slow Joe, a former heroin addict and drug dealer born in Mumbai, disowned by his family, heartbroken at 50, and who moved to Goa and cleaned up.

On a trip to Goa in 2007, according to 'Variety', Lyon-based French musician Cedric de la Chapelle met Joe, then a frail 64-year-old making ends meet as a hotel room broker. Joe, who was also a poet and musician, sang for de la Chapelle. The Frenchman was captivated by his voice and recorded some of his a cappella songs.

Back in France, de la Chapelle played Joe's songs to music producer Olivier Boccon-Gibod of Horizon Musiques, who was also sold on it. Over trips to Goa, de la Chapelle and Joe set up the music group Slow Joe & The Ginger Accident.

The songs arranged by the group, 'Variety' notes, were played for Jean-Louis Brossard, director of Transmusicales, one of the biggest French music festivals, at Rennes. Joe went to France and the group performed at the 2009 Transmusicales, and the show was a big success.

In 2011, Slow Joe & The Ginger Accident released their first album 'Sunny Side Up', and the success of the album was reflected by a sell-out tour of France, followed by Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and India. In 2014, when Joe was 71, a second album, 'Lost for Love', was released to critical acclaim.

By early 2016, the group had performed at more than 250 concerts, but Joe had a fatal heart attack in May 2016, when he was 73. 'Let Me Be Gone', the group's third album, was released after his death in February 2017.