It has often been seen that directors sometimes give expensive gifts, like luxury cars, to Bollywood actors as a token of appreciation for their successful films or performances. There’s one such instance, when Vidhu Vinod Chopra, best known for his directorial ’12th Fail’, gifted Rs 4.5 crore worth Rolls-Royce to legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan after completing the 2007 film ‘Eklavya: The Royal Guard’.

In an old interview with Siddharth Kannan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra recalled the time when his mother slapped him for gifting a Rolls-Royce to Amitabh Bachchan.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra gifts Amitabh Bachchan a Rolls-Royce

During the candid conversation, the 12th Fail director said,

“We actually started fighting after a week or 10 days. But he stayed on and completed the film. I gifted him a car worth Rs 4.5 crore because he tolerated me. It was really humbling for a star of his stature to have to tolerate me; it was big of him.”

VVC mother’s reaction when he gifts the car to Big B 

He further mentioned how his mother reacted when he gave Bachchan the car. He said:

“I will never forget this incident. I took my mother with me when I was gifting the car to Amitabh. She handed him the keys. She came back, sat in my car, which was a blue Maruti van. She called Big B ‘Lamboo.’ I didn’t have a driver at the time, so I was driving.

She told me, ‘Tu Lamboo nu gaadi dedi?‘ I said, ‘Haan.’ She replied, ‘Tu khud kyun nahi leta gaadi? I told her I would buy a car; when it was time. She responded, saying, ’11 lakh ki toh hogi.’ And I laughed because she didn’t know that it was Rs 4.5 crore. I told her the cost, and she slapped me, calling me ‘bewakoof.’ I will never forget that, because what is money if it can’t give you joy.”

Eklavya: The Royal Guard: Story, cast and OTT platform

The 2007 movie ‘Eklavya: The Royal Guard’ was released in 2007 and features Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Vidya Balan, Jackie Shroff, Boman Irani, Jimmy Shergill and others in the lead roles. The film revolves around the story of a protector named Eklavya, who is given the responsibility of protecting the members of a royal family. He tries his best to do so and keep their secrets safe. The film is available to stream on OTT platform Prime Video.