Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra shared a humorous anecdote about Amitabh Bachchan during the filming of ‘Eklavya’. Bachchan arrived with minimal luggage, explaining his wife Jaya advised him he wouldn’t tolerate Chopra for more than a week. Despite early friction, Bachchan stayed, completing the film and earning a Rolls Royce as a token of appreciation for his patience and performance.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra has been one of the most prolific filmmakers of Indian cinema, he has been the man behind films like Parinda, 1942 A Love Story 12th Fail, Munnabhai series, 3 Idiots etc. In a clip that is now doing the rounds of social media, he opened up about a delightful anecdote featuring Amitabh Bachchan from the time they worked together on Eklavya: The Royal Guard, a film that released in 2007 and featured an ensemble cast including Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff. Speaking with Siddharth Kannan, Chopra narrated how Bachchan arrived for the shoot with almost no luggage, which immediately caught the director’s attention. As the filmmaker recounted, “When Eklavya was being made, we had a 35 day schedule and Amitabh Bachchan arrived with just one bag, I told him you travel very light and replied saying Jaya ( Bachchan) told me , more than one week you cant stand Vinod, so I’ve packed only for a week. And in 10 days we actually began fighting ( laughs). But he stayed back and completed the entire film – it turned out to be very expensive as I got him a Rolls Royce which worth 4-4.5 crore because he tolerated me and give a very good job in the film.”What makes the story even more memorable is the ending, where Bachchan’s patience didn’t just earn him creative satisfaction, but a Rolls Royce worth crores. For Chopra to publicly admit that Bachchan had to “tolerate” him is as much an admission of the filmmaker’s intensity as it is an affectionate acknowledgment of the actor’s professionalism.Amitabh Bachchan’s next project is going to be Section 84 which features him with Nimrat Kaur, Diana Penty, Sharib Hashmi and Abhishek Banerjee. It is directed by Ribhu Dasgupta.
