Manoj Bajpayee recalled how Amitabh Bachchan pranked him while shooting for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s 2001 film Aks.
When Manoj Bajpayee made a mark in Hindi movies with Satya, the industry dubbed him as the new-age Amitabh Bachchan. For Manoj, however, meeting Big B was something that he could tick off his bucket list. The two met soon after Satya and just a few months later, they ended up working together in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s 2001 movie Aks. Manoj, in an earlier appearance on Kapil Sharma’s show, recalled how Big B pulled a prank on him while they were shooting for the film.
Manoj recalled that one of the action sequences of the film required them to jump from 100 feet. The Family Man actor said that he is scared of heights so jumping from this height was already a big task for him. “Pehle toh maine jaake dekha, maine kahan yaar kisi tarah se yeh avoid ho sakta hai kya (I went there and was trying to figure out if there was any way that I could avoid this)?”
Manoj then recalled that the action director pumped him up and said that Big B will be with him all the way. He shared, “Action director ne mujeh bohot taiyar kiya ‘Manoj tu ghabra mat sab ho jayega, sirf aankh band kar lena. Bachchan saab rahenge vahan pe kuch nahi hoga tujhe (Manoj, don’t worry. Everything will be okay. Just close your eyes. Bachchan saab will be there, nothing will happen to you).”
Manoj said that he had closed his eyes throughout the time that they were being taken up the waterfall for the jump. “Aankh band kiya hua maine, Bachchan saab mera haath pakde hue hain (My eyes were closed and Bachchan saab was holding my hand).” When they were already 80-85 feet up in the air, Amitabh Bachchan called out Manoj’s name and the actor was instantly alerted. “Hum log around 80-85 feet tak gaye the, toh Bachchan saab ki awaaz aayi, ‘Manoj , yaar kuch ho jaye toh Jaya ko bol dena ki yaar…’ Maine kahan sir main aise hi dara hua hun. Voh bole, ‘Yaar sach mein ghar pe mere khabar kar dena.’ (We were around 80-85 feet up, and Bachchan saab yelled out my name ‘Manoj, if anything happens to me, tell Jaya… I said sir I am already scared. He said ‘Inform my family’).”
Kapil was left in splits when he heard this story and Manoj remembered how easily Big B pranked him. The two actors also worked together in Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan and Satyagraha.
Source:indianexpress.com