Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra is often known for being a tough taskmaster, and his clashes with actors are much talked about. His infamous fight with Parinda actress Nana Patekar is well documented.. However, Nana wasn’t the only one, Chopra also had major disagreements with superstar Amitabh Bachchan while filming their 2007 film Eklavya: The Royal Guard. Despite their falling out, the two ultimately ended the project on a positive note. Chopra even gifted a luxury vehicle to Big B.
‘Chopra screams and screams, it doesn’t suit your temperament’: Jaya Bachchan
In an old interaction, Chopra recalls how she was shocked to see Amitabh Bachchan arriving on the set of Eklavya with very little luggage. Curious, he asked the actor about it, to which Big B replied, “Jaya told me she couldn’t stand you for more than a week.”
Jaya Bachchan’s warning soon proved accurate as Chopra admitted that tensions rose between them during the shoot. “We actually started fighting after a week or 10 days. But he stayed and completed the film,” Chopra told Siddharth Kannan, acknowledging Bachchan’s professionalism.
Amitabh Bachchan, speaking to PTI, once revealed how Jaya Bachchan warned him not to work with Choprawarning him about the filmmaker’s temperament. “When I told Jaya that I was working with Vidhu Vinod Chopra, she spoke silently, which is an indicator of things to come. When it was time to go for outdoor shooting, I told Jaya that I was going, she asked me how long I will be away, I told her, one month. She said, I will see you back in three days. She told me that he (Chopra) abuses, shouts and shouts, this will not suit your temperament and I will come back in three days.”
Chopra refused to book Rs 65,000 room for Amitabh Bachchan
Chopra also refused to book a Rs 65,000 per night hotel room for Amitabh Bachchan due to the film’s length. budget restrictions. He explained that he did not want to show preferential treatment to one actor over others. “The crisis was that I could have booked the room for Amitabh, but I couldn’t leave out other stars Saif (Ali Khan) and Sanjay (Dutt). I would have to book rooms for them too, and that’s how films go over budget. Then I couldn’t have made a nuanced film like Eklavya. In that case, you could make a bad film that works everywhere.”
He further added: “Money in the arts is a very dangerous thing,” explaining how excessive spending can limit creative freedom.
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Chopra slapped for gifting Rs 4.5 million car to Big B
Despite sticking strictly to the budget during production, Chopra later rewarded Amitabh Bachchan for putting up with her demanding nature by gifting him a Rolls Royce worth Rs 4.5 million. At that time, Chopra himself was still driving a humble blue. Maruti van. This decision reportedly earned him a slap from his own mother.
Recalling the incident, Chopra said, “I will never forget this incident. I took my mother with me when I gifted the car to Amitabh. She handed him the keys. She came back and sat in my car, which was a blue Maruti van. She called Big B ‘Lamboo’. He didn’t have a driver at that time, so I was driving. She told me, ‘Tu Lamboo nu gadi dedi? (Did you give him the car?)’ I said, ‘Haan’. She replied: ‘Tu khud kyun nahi leta gadi? (Why don’t you buy a car yourself?)’ I told her that I will buy a car, there is time. She responded saying, ’11 lakh ki toh hogi (it must be worth Rs 11 lakh).’ joy?
In another interaction, Chopra explained the reason behind gifting Bachchan the expensive car and said, “I gifted him a car worth Rs 4.5 crore because he tolerated me. It was really humiliating for a star of his stature to have to tolerate me, it was very big of him.”