Mumbai:

Amitabh Bachchan is busy shooting in Rajasthan for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya and returning to the desert gives the superstar a sense of déjà vu and brings back a flood of memories. “This is where it all started in a way,” he said, reminiscing about the good old days of Sunil Dutt’s Reshma Aur Shera when the entire unit would hang around together.

“It was so much fun back then... all of us — Sunil Dutt Saab, Waheedaji, Raakhee and me had loads of fun... Now for Eklavya I feel the same sense of bonding with Vinod Chopra’s unit. The entire unit — Vinod, Pradeep Sarkar, Jackie Shroff, Saif and Vidya Balan — feels like one family... We lost two days of the schedule when it rained incessantly. But we’ve two days extra to make up for the loss.”

And even as the mega-star is busy with his shooting schedule, in Banglore audiences went into a tizzy when his first Kannada film Amrithdhare premiered in that city. The viewers went wild with joy when they heard Bachchan speaking in Kannada. In the key theatres like Sagar, many people jumped on to their seats when Bachchan appeared on the screen.

“Really?” said an incredulous Bachchan, when told of the audience reaction. “It’s hard to believe. Mine was only a walk-on part. I just slip into the film and slip out. But it’s nice to know audiences in Bangalore have reacted so positively to my small presence in the film. I love the city of Bangalore and its people.”