‘Akshay Kumar steals and hides people's watches, Ajay Devgn dressed up as a ghost to scare me': Shilpa Shirodkar on Bollywood's ‘biggest pranksters'

Indian Express

22-07-2025

No one can truly understand what it means to share the screen with the biggest Bollywood stars until you actually get the chance to do it. Actor Shilpa Shirodkar, who has recently been very vocal about her personal life, career and challenges, had that experience with some of the biggest names in this industry. During a recent interview the actor shared some anecdotes about sharing the film set with people like Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar and Govinda.
She first shared her time with Amitabh and told Pinkvilla that the Zanjeer star is one of the most humble human beings she has ever met. She said, 'There are too many memories I have from working with people from this beautiful industry. It stars with Amitabh ji, who taught me the value of discipline and the importance of being on time. One day we were shooting this action scene, and he said, 'For me, the director of the film is like the captain of the ship; I will do whatever he tells me to do.' He never made anyone feel that he was 'Big-B'. On the set of Hum, I was shooting this dance sequence, and I met with an accident. I couldn't walk for a week, and Amit ji had sent me these beautiful flowers, which was really nice.'
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Shilpa added that Rajinikanth was also very similar to Amitabh in terms of their nature and how she would often have casual conversations with him in Marathi. When asked about some fun stories from movie sets and which actor was the biggest instigator of mischief, Shilpa quickly pointed towards Devgn and Akshay Kumar. Shipla said, 'Ajay was like a real prankster. We were shooting in Shimla, and he had made up this elaborate story of there being a ghost in our hotel. In the middle of the night, there were knocks on my door, and I was sharing a room with both my parents and my hairdresser. People were running in the lobby wearing white bed sheets, and we got to know in the morning that it was Ajay.' She then went on to give an example of how Akshay's pranks used to delay shooting and make people genuinely upset.
'Akshay does this thing where he will steal and hide other people's watches. So he would swipe someone's watch and then tell me to ask them the time. Now I wasn't part of the prank, so I was equally confused when the person would frantically start looking for their watch. People used to get mad, and the shooting used to get halted, but it was still a good bit of fun,' added Shilpa. Talking about delays in shooting, Shilpa was asked to reveal the name of her co-star who was constantly late to shooting and held up schedules. Shilpa laughed and admitted that she knew that people wanted to hear her say Govinda's name, but the actor actually defended him and said that she couldn't remember a single instance where he was late to set.
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She said, 'I know what you want me to say, but I am not going to say his (Govinda) name. I have worked with him a lot, and it would be wrong of me to say that he used to show up late. Never was my shooting, a particular scene or schedule cancelled or delayed because of him. I never had to sit there and wait for him. Everyone has their own experiences, but for me that time was also good, and all of the films we did with each other were completed and released on time.' Shilpa gave props to all her co-stars and said that whoever she worked with were all very professional individuals. The actor also gave a shout-out to Anil Kapoor for being a foodie just like her and said that he used to bring the best food for them from his house.