Amitabh Bachchan at your service

Amitabh Bachchan in a still from the film

Tales of his punctuality and commitment to the craft are legendary in the industry circles. Now, Amitabh Bachchan's latest gesture could serve as a lesson in humility for the younger crop of actors who look up to him. Turns out, the megastar - who is foraying into Marathi cinema with AB Aani CD, which also features senior actor Vikram Gokhale - wore outfits from his personal wardrobe in the film, so as to not burden the modest budget of the project with the additional expenses of a stylist and costumes.

Producer Akshay Bardapurkar acknowledges that he was ecstatic and overawed in equal measure when the veteran actor agreed to be part of his film. 'As the day of the shoot came closer, we asked Bachchan saab when we could send somebody over to get measurements for his outfits. He told us, 'Don't worry. I will get my own costumes.' On the day of the shoot, he came bearing over 20 outfits, hanged them in his van and asked us to select the ones we wanted for the shoot. He knew that Marathi movies do not have [lavish] budgets; so, he helped us tremendously with this gesture,' says the producer.

Akshay Bardapurkar, producer

After having wrapped up the shoot of his portions last November, Bachchan was mindful to allocate a chunk of dates for the dubbing of the Milind Lele-directed film. 'He could have easily said, 'I will give you the NOC, please get it dubbed by a Marathi artiste.' But he insisted on dubbing for his part. Since he has spent so many years in Mumbai, he is proficient in the language,' shares Bardapurkar, marvelling that the superstar's dedication to his craft hasn't waned in so many decades. 'After every scene, he would ask the director, 'Sab theek hai?' If the DoP [director of photography] asked him hesitantly whether he could do one more take, Bachchan saab would say, 'Arre kyun nahin?''

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