Amitabh Bachchan reached for shoot at 5am after clubbing all night, Arjun Rampal kept him waiting for 3 hours: ‘Big B refused to come out of his van’

Apoorva Lakhia recently recalled the time when Arjun Rampal kept Amitabh Bachchan waiting for two-three hours on the set of their Ek Ajnabee, only for Big B to respond in kind.

By: Entertainment Desk

Kochi | February 19, 2025 06:10 PM IST

3 min read

Apoorva Lakhia recently recalled the time when Arjun Rampal kept Amitabh Bachchan waiting for two-three hours on the set of their Ek Ajnabee, only for Big B to respond in kind.

Amitabh Bachchan and Arjun Rampal worked together in Apoorva Lakhia's action thriller Ek Ajnabee. (Credit: Facebook/@amitabhbachchan, Instagram/@rampal72)

Renowned for his punctuality and meticulous approach, Amitabh Bachchan earned the title of “Bollywood’s Shahenshah” through sheer hard work and consistently living up to the name with his actions. Meanwhile, filmmaker Apoorva Lakhia recently took a trip down memory lane and reminisced about the time when Arjun Rampal kept Amitabh Bachchan waiting for two to three hours on the set of their action thriller Ek Ajnabee (2005), only for Big B to respond in a tit-for-tat manner.

Recalling shooting in Bangkok, Lakhia shared that one night, he, Bachchan and others visited a club and stayed out until 2.30-3 in the morning, despite knowing they had an early morning shoot the next day that started at 5.30 am. Yet, true to his reputation, Bachchan arrived on set precisely on time. “We were set to film the scene where Amit ji and Arjun’s characters meet for the first time. Amit ji and I reached the set on time and everything was ready there. He only had one demand: to let him sleep for two and a half hours in the afternoon. He had informed us in advance, so we had other shots planned for that period. But Arjun didn’t show up,” Lakhia shared during a chat with Friday Talkies.

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“He came two-three hours late after we sent someone to the hotel. We somehow completed the scene by noon and let him get his sleep. Next, we had to shoot Arjun’s close-up. Since he made him wait for three hours, Amit ji did not even step out of the camper for three hours. Arjun began panicking and the sun was already setting. Arjun finally said, ‘I will never be late again boss.’ Without telling him, he communicated this to him,” Lakhia added.

A remake of director Tony Scott’s Man on Fire (2004), starring Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning and based on the novel of the same name, Ek Ajnabee also featured Perizaad Zorabian and Kelly Dorji in key roles. Apoorva Lakhia’s most recent directorial venture was the spy thriller web series Crackdown (S01: 2020, S02: 2023).

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