Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra reminisced about his initial encounter with the famed actor Amitabh Bachchan, who he approached armed only with a recommendation from Hrishikesh Mukherjee and his success with a National Award-winning film. Despite securing Bachchan’s commitment to collaborate, Chopra ultimately decided to shift to a different project that he felt was more suitable at that point in his career. He would later partner with Bachchan on the film Eklavya: The Royal Guard.
During a discussion at the Kellogg Management School, Chopra humorously mentioned that his primary goal during their first meeting was to use the restroom in Bachchan’s vanity van. “Making a film with him wasn’t as important as peeing in his personal washroom,” he joked. “I went to meet him in a bus. At that time, the word around town was that Amitabh Bachchan has a toilet in his vanity van. I was very rude in that first meeting, I told him, ‘My name might not be very impressive, but my film is, can you see it?’ He saw that anger, and he agreed.”
Chopra explained that Bachchan had the opportunity to view his film, ‘Murder at Monkey Hill,’ before 5 pm as that was when their theater booking expired. He noted, “Now, Amitabh, Hrishi da and Rekha are all busy working, and I notice there’s some argument happening. Around 4, I started to feel that he wouldn’t get the time to watch my film. A little while later, I left. I was sitting outside, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Amitabh Bachchan. He asked, ‘You have the booking till 5? Let’s go’. He asked if he could bring a friend along with him, and the friend was Rekha. He was angry because of the argument earlier, and we all got into the famous trailer…”
At that moment, Chopra saw the chance to fulfill one of his quirky dreams. He recounted, “I asked, ‘Can I use the toilet?’ My biggest ambition in life was to pee in Amitabh Bachchan’s trailer. Who knows if the film works out or not, but at least I got to pee in his trailer.” After watching Chopra’s film, Bachchan expressed interest in working together. However, when Chopra received an offer from the government that included Rs 5000 and a chauffeured car, he decided to postpone the project with Bachchan. He explained to Bachchan, ‘Amit, we’ll need to put our project on hold because I’ve received a better opportunity. I told him, ‘Amit, we’ll have to delay our project because I have something better’.”
Bachchan appeared puzzled and inquired, ‘Kaka?’ Chopra was initially unsure of what he meant, but then realized Bachchan thought he might have committed to a project with Rajesh Khanna. Chopra clarified, “I said, ‘No Kaka, DD has told me I can do anything’. Bachchan responded, “But you can do anything with me.” They eventually collaborated on ‘Eklavya,’ which was chosen as India’s official submission for the Oscars. For enduring his temper tantrums during the production of the film, Chopra notably presented Bachchan with a Rolls-Royce.
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