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Abhishek Bachchan had many flops before he could establish himself as a bankable name in the Hindi film industry, and it was during this phase that he was approached by Apoorva Lakhia for his directorial debut Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost. Apoorva had already assisted Ashutosh Gowariker in Lagaan, and had also assisted in a few Hollywood films but when he decided to make his first Hindi film, the process of trying to get the desired lead actor took some time.
In a recent chat with Friday Talkies, Apoorva recalled that Pahlaj Nihalani’s son Vicky offered to produce his first film and when Apoorva discussed the idea of his film, and shared that he wanted to cast Abhishek in the lead role, he got a meeting with the upcoming star. He shared that Abhishek liked the script but the conversation about the film went on for six months, and by then, Apoorva was starting to assume that Abhishek would say yes to the film, since he had already invested so much time in it. “He is very interesting. When you go there at first, you get water. A week later, if he calls you again, you get offered a cappuccino. By then, you know you are progressing, and by the fourth or fifth meeting, you are offered dry fruits. This gives you a green light. And when he starts to offer you sandwiches and all, you know that we will shoot now.”
However, things didn’t go as Apoorva was predicting as Abhishek said no to the film after six months. “After six months, he called me and said, this film needs to be made but not with me. I got extremely mad at him and I just snatched my script from his hand and said, ‘No problem’. And I left,” he said. However, a week after the incident, he got a call from Abhishek’s secretary.
Apoorva said that he had already decided that he wouldn’t apologise for his behaviour. Vicky had already warned Apoorva that he had shot himself in the foot by picking a fight with Amitabh Bachchan’s son and his career was over even before getting started. Once at the Bachchan residence, Apoorva couldn’t hold himself back. “We went and sat, and to make me realise that he is a star, he made me wait for half an hour. This time, we were only offered water. He came and sat, and asked me, ‘Are you angry with me?’ I was like, ‘Of course, I am angry with you’.”
Apoorva continued, “I said, ‘You are Amitabh Bachchan’s son, you won’t have problems, he is Pahlaj Nihalani’s son, he won’t have issues, but I am somebody who needs to worry about my rent of Rs 7,000. I wasted six months of my life, if you were not interested, you could have told me so, I would have approached someone else’.” After a long pause, Abhishek asked him when he wanted to start the film and this broke the ice between them. “Because I took a stand instead of apologising, he respected me a little more and he agreed to do the film and since that day, we became best friends and his family has been very good to me.”
Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost also starred Lara Dutta. The film failed to impress the audience.
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