Amitabh Bachchan used to tease me for not sharing my lunchbox with him - Amrita Rao

The pretty Amrita Rao, who plays Amitabh’s widowed daughter-in-law in Satyagraha, had this interesting anecdote to share with us. Apparently, on the first day of the shoot, when lunch break was called, so hungry was Amrita that she gobbled up her entire food without waiting for anyone else. Amitabh who was standing close by noticed this from the corner of his eye later chided Amrita for not sharing her food with others. And it turns out that Amitabh playfully used to make it a point to religiously ask Amrita “Madam khaana khaaya aapne?” making Amrita go crimson red. Satyagraha is also the first movie where Amrita would be seen sharing maximum screen space with the legendary Mr Bachchan. “I was also in Deewar with Mr Bachchan but unfortunately I had no scenes with him. Here, 99% of my role is with him,” recalls Amrita and also adds that shooting with Mr Bachchan was like living in a dream for the entire month of shooting. “I am still in a state of shock that I have completed one film with him,” says an elated Amrita. This also the first time Amrita would be seen playing the de-glam role of a widow. The surprising bit, however, is that the director of the movie Prakash Jha didn’t want Amrita to prepare herself in any way for the role. “Prakashji told me not to prepare anything before hand while coming to the sets. I just followed the character that he had beautifully crafted and his vision actually moulded me into Sumitra – a woman of substance,” says Amrita. For someone who has been choosy about her projects, it was a bit puzzling to see Amrita choose a movie which had other senior actors acting along with her. But Amrita begs to differ here. “Prakashji had made it clear that all the stars in the movie are character actors each essaying the role of Satyagrahis. So everyone has an equal role,” clarifies Amrita. Knowing Prakash Jha’s penchant for exacting realistic performances from his actors, we are sure Amrita’s serious and mature role in this movie would be worth a dekko.