In an age when actors’ labor costs are often talked about, Amitabh Bachchan An actor who is known not only for his discipline but also for the fact that he does not like to burden his producers. A proof of this is expressed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra who shared his experience of working with Bachchan in ‘Eklavya’. Acted with Bachchan in the film Saif Ali KhanVidya Balan. Chopra who also directed the film is known to be a difficult person to work with and Jaya Bachchan predicted that Big B would return home from the shoot within a week and not do the film.In the book ‘Unscripted: Conversations on Life and Cinema’ co-authored by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi, the filmmaker recalled that Bachchan did not accept any advance money for the film. He even incurred several personal expenses himself, including a private charter flight from Rajasthan to Mumbai.“When the shoot was over, he asked for a private plane to fly him back to Bombay. I had to decline as the budget couldn’t be stretched. He hired a plane from Jodhpur and paid for it himself and Anu (Anupama Chopra, wife) and I boarded the plane with him. I didn’t pay Amitabh for the film, yet he gave me one of my first private plane rides,” said Chopra.The actor’s generosity extends beyond travel. Chopra also said that the hotel room requested for Bachchan exceeded the allotted budget of Rs 65,000. Instead of asking the production to absorb the extra cost, Bachchan chose to pay for it himself. Chopra later said that one of the reasons was that she gifted the actor a Rolls-Royce worth Rs 4.5 crore after the film was completed.But the journey of making ‘Eklavya’ was not entirely smooth. Chopra revealed that during the early days of shooting, he was so frustrated by repeated delays that he briefly decided to replace Bachchan. Sanjay Duttwho was already part of the castThe filmmaker was under pressure to complete the project in just 37 days and decided to use two cameras simultaneously to speed up production, a practice that was unusual at the time. When Bachchan arrived in Rajasthan for a schedule expected to last over a month, he brought only a few bags with him. Curious, Chopra asked him why.“Jaya has sent all my things. She is sure I will be back in a week and believes we cannot work together, and there is no way I will stay for more than a week,” he recalled Bachchan saying. That prediction almost came true. On the very first day of shooting, Bachchan arrived late, causing Chopra to miss the morning light needed for a scene.“You can’t be bloody late on set, yaar! I missed my magic hour light. I can’t take the shot now. We have to reschedule—the light’s gone. So I don’t like you right now, Amit,” he told Bachchan. The next day brought the same problem and by the third day Chopra ran out of patience. Once again, the actor was not on set when needed and the filmmaker feared missing another crucial shot.“I completely lost it. I could see my lights disappearing. I knew I had lost the shot. I came down from the crane and saw Sanjay Dutt standing. I told him: ‘Wear Eklavya, you are not playing Pannalal Chohar, Eklavya’. end of story I ended up working with Bachchan,” he recalled.Furious, Chopra stood outside Bachchan’s house and asked his line producer how much money had already been spent on the film. When the figure was said to be Rs 1 crore, he replied, “Stop it.” Just at that moment, Bachchan came out of his room. What could have turned into a major confrontation instead turned into a humorous exchange. Approaching Chopra’s wife Anupama, the actor quipped, “How do you live with this madman? He’s mad.“The comment made everyone laugh and instantly spread excitement.Bachchan then explained the real reason for his delay. The elaborate beard and makeup required for his character was taking much longer than expected. “Do you know how hard it is to keep this beard? The guys who put it on my face really stink and are all over me, and it takes hours. If I show up on set and the beard isn’t right, you get yelled at.”Determined to fix the problem, Chopra instructed the make-up team to thoroughly cleanse themselves with Dettol before work. The next morning, she heard Bachchan screaming at 4 a.m. and later learned that the actor’s make-up room smelled more like a hospital than a film set.The effort, though, stopped. The next day, Bachchan reached the set an hour before the scheduled time. When Chopra asked him what had changed, the actor replied with characteristic wit, “I don’t like shouting, sir. I was playing it safe.”Chopra also once revealed an anecdote about how his mother scolded him for gifting Bachchan a car worth Rs 4.5 crore.
