Amitabh Bachchan came dot at 9, Govinda would show up at 4 pm: How Bade Miyan Chote Miyan director David Dhawan kept Big B busy

Bollywood actor Raveena Tandon, ad guru Prahlad Kakkar, character actor Guddi Maruti, and a few others who have worked with ‘Hero No. 1’ Govinda have spoken about the actor’s habit of turning up late on the film’s set, not just by a few hours but even days at time. Recently, the actor’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan co-star Shehzad Khan remembered Govinda being 6-7 hours late to work, while the ‘punctual’ Amitabh Bachchan would reach sharp at 9 am.

As Khan remembered his ‘fine’ experience of working with filmmaker David Dhawan, he told Siddharth Kannan that Dhawan never let Big B realise that Govinda was late by keeping him busy with work.

“I got the chance to work with David Dhawan and what a fine director he is. Bachchan sahab used to come at 9 am and Govinda sahab used to come at 3-4 pm. It was like the difference between IST and GST. But what could we do, we used to be character actors,” Khan said while revealing Dhawan’s way of dealing with the situation.

“David ji was very smart. He knew how to keep the actor busy that he won’t even think about (Govinda being late),” Khan shared.

This was just one of the incidents with Govinda. The actor was famous for his reckless behaviour at work. “Chi Chi bhaiya (as Govinda was addressed by many) ke bohot kisse hain (There are many stories of Chi Chi Bhaiya). Once we were shooting in Ramoji City and he said, ‘I am going to pick up a relative from the airport.’ Later, we got to know he went to Bombay. He returned the next day,” Khan narrated, as he reasoned, “Jab aapki tooti chalti hai, tab aapki har cheez nazar andaaz ki jaati hai (When your luck is with you, your every wrong action is ignored).”

Earlier, Guddi Maruti had shared in one of her interviews that whoever signed Govinda knew he would be late on set. “Producers would be worried but we would have fun. We would get ready and play cards on the set while waiting for him. But I don’t think any producer had the guts to question him. Everyone was just used to it and would adjust,” Guddi Maruti told Bollywood Thikana.