Starry tantrums have always been a part of the industry, especially with many actors. However, there are some who’ve always been disciplined. While things are changing now, many actors have a huge reputation of always being late on the sets and making people wait. In a recent interview, veteran actress Sharmila Tagore has opened up on it. Tagore shared screen space in many movies with Rajesh Khanna who was known for being late. However, now she’s recalled how Zeenat Aman had to accommodate the timings of her co-stars in ‘Dostana‘ as Amitabh Bachchan was always punctual, while Shatrughan Sinha was always late.
In a chat with Screen, Tagore said, “After Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan was the only actor who came on time. So, Dostana starred Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, and Zeenat Aman. Shatrughan Sinha was notorious for being late—he was late to his own wedding , and as a parliamentarian, he was late. He is biologically incapable of being on time. For that film, the shift was from 7 am to 2 pm, and at exactly 2 pm, Mr Bachchan’s car would leave, and Shatrughan Sinha’s car would enter.”
She further added, “You can imagine Raj Khosla lost all his hair during the making of the film. You won’t find all three—Amitabh, Shatrughan, and Zeenat—in one frame. Of course, Zeenat adjusted her schedule to accommodate both their timings. For most scenes, the director had to use a body double for shots, filming from behind with the duplicate’s head visible from the back. Shatrughan used to do it for fun; he wasn’t a tormentor—he was a wonderful person. He simply didn’t have the genes to be on time.”
Recently, in an interview, Shabana Azmi also said that Rajesh Khanna was not as bad as Sanjeev Kumar and Shatrughan Sinha who were always so late. “Sanjeev Kumar would only come at 11:30 and after shooting four-five shots, I used to rush to Filmistaan. There, for 2-10 shift, Shatrughan Sinha only came in at 7 pm… Comparatively, Rajesh Khanna was better. He was not as bad as Sanjeev and Shatrughan,” she said.
