4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 22, 2024 06:09 PM IST
Govinda, who has starred in over 165 films in his career spanning over three decades, is considered one of the greatest and most culturally significant Indian actors of all time. He was famous for his slapstick performances and dancing skills. However, there was another thing about the actor, which he was quite famous for and that was his tardiness. There have been several stories about the actor often arriving late to sets, sometimes not by hours but days. Recently, veteran filmmaker Mehul Kumar, who has worked extensively with Govinda, shared a similar incident and revealed the time when he would only dedicate an hour or two every day to shoot a film–a result of the actor shooting multiple projects simultaneously.
Govinda, who made a debut in 1986, starred in five films alone in that year. In 1987, the actor starred in six films, eleven films in 1988, and fourteen films in 1989. Recalling the shoot of his 1989 film Asmaan Se Ooncha, Mehul Kumar said. “Govinda was so busy by the time of this film that he would just dedicate an hour or two for the shoot of the film.” Govinda was also known for often arriving late on sets and sometimes even skipping them.
Mehul said, “During Asmaan Se Ooncha shoot, I too faced this problem. We were shooting for the film in Kashmir and there was a fight sequence that was left to be shot but due to heavy snowfall, we had to cancel the shoot. I told Govinda, ‘today is the last day, the entire unit is here, please stay back and complete your shoot.’ He was like ‘I cannot.’ So I was like ‘okay, go ahead, I will finish the shoot without you’. He was like ‘how’, I was like you will know it when you will watch it. I used close up shots of him and used his body double. I clearly told Govinda, ‘I have done so many films that whenever an artist throws tantrums, I can make a film without them.’ I told him ‘if you want to survive as an actor for a long time, you will have to take care of these things.'”
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He added, “He only used to give me an hour or two, it was hard to do the work in the limited time.”
Previously, adman Prahlad Kakkar too recalled a similar incident where Govinda was supposed to shoot with them in Hyderabad. He said, “We were on a big set in Hyderabad, of all the places. And he was supposed to come from Srinagar. He said, ‘Don’t worry, main time pe aa jaunga (I’ll be there on time)’. I said, ‘Kaise ayega tu? Tera flight nahi hai (How? You don’t even have a flight)’. He said, ‘Gaadi mein baith ke aunga na (I’ll come in a car)’.”
The actor was two days late to the set. Recalling another incident, Prahlad said, “We had this huge Titanic set, with him and a girl on the prow. He comes in, looks at the set, and says, ‘Jaldi karein? I have to go’. I said, ‘No, you have to finish this. The whole set is standing for you’.”
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Mehul Kumar and Govinda have worked in films like Marte Dam Tak, Asmaan Se Ooncha and Jung Baaz.
Govinda once vowed to not do comedy films. (Pic: Govinda/Facebook)