Actor Shehzad Khan, who worked with Govinda on the film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, reflected on the star’s habitual tardiness. He said that he has numerous anecdotes about Govinda, as he shared one from the sets of BMCM. He said that they were working in Hyderabad’s Ramoji Film City, when Govinda asked director David Dhawan if he could go to the airport and pick up his wife.
He left, and didn’t return for four days.
In an interview with Bollywood Thikana, Shehzad said, “I have a lot of stories. We were shooting at Ramoji one day, and Chi Chi asked David Dhawan if he could go and receive his wife at the airport. The airport is a little while away from the studio, and David ji gave him permission to go, but told him to return immediately. He left, but didn’t return. In the evening, David ji received a call from him saying that he was in Mumbai. He said that he’d return the following day.” He continued, “You have to hand it to David saab. He knew how to work around these hiccups. The shoot didn’t stop at all, even though Govinda wasn’t there. He returned four days later.”
Tales of Govinda’s tardiness are well known across the film industry. Many attribute his fall from grace to his indiscipline. His own wife, Sunita, said that she agrees with David Dhawan’s advice to Govinda about doing more supporting roles as he got older. His refusal to evolve with the times has also been cited as a reason for his downfall. In an earlier interview with Ronak Kotecha, BMCM producer Vashu Bhagnani recalled a story about Govinda’s tardiness when they worked together on Hero No 1. He said that the entire unit of 75 people sat idle in Switzerland for three days because Govinda had not even arrived in the country, and they had been waiting for him.
In an interview with Mashable India, director Anees Bazmee said that he’d be shocked if Govinda ever showed up on time. “It isn’t news or a shock to me that Govinda will come late. I will get a shock if he comes on time, and he doesn’t give me those kinds of shocks. So, since I know that he will come at 12 pm for a 9 am shoot, I complete other tasks by then so that I don’t waste my time. Tuning with the actor is very important,” he said.
In an interview with Bollywood Thikana, Govinda’s nephew Vinay Anand told a story about being humiliated by a producer for being late. “When he was just starting off, one of his producers, I don’t want to name him… Govinda was travelling from Virar and was late. There was another hero in the film who was from a renowned family. That producer punished Govinda by making him stand outside in the rain. That’s how the producer expressed his anger. I think that hurt Govinda,” he shared.
Govinda himself admitted that he wasn’t a punctual person, and said in an interview with Mukesh Khanna on his YouTube channel, “I never used to arrive on time on set. I was a follower of Dilip Kumar sahab. I didn’t believe in being late. I used to first set my rhythms right. Jab tak mere sur taal nahi set ho jaaye, main set pe nahi pahuchta tha (Till the time my rhythms wouldn’t be set, I would not go to the set).”