When Aishwarya Rai told Sonu Sood during Jodhaa Akbar scene: ‘You remind me of my pa’

Sonu Sood has worked with the Bachchan family - Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai - in different films. In an interview in 2013, he talked about the experience of shooting with each of them and also revealed who his favourite co-star is.

While Amitabh is extremely dedicated and would keep rehearsing his lines, Aishwarya was originally rather ‘reserved’ on the set, according to Sonu. He also said that with Abhishek, ‘you get what you see’.

On being asked about his favourite co-star, Sonu told a leading daily, “I thoroughly enjoyed working with Mr Bachchan. He has played my father in Bbuddah... Hoga Terra Baap, while Abhishek has played my brother in Yuva and Aishwarya my sister in Jodhaa Akbar. In my first scene with Mr Bachchan, I had to push him. I told my director, ‘How can I do this to a person I have grown up respecting?’”

Sonu said that Amitabh is ‘made for cinema’. “He sits on the set and doesn’t go to the van and goes on rehearsing his lines. I also do that and he was happy that I also wanted to rehearse. Like him on every film, I too feel that it is my first film. I sometimes get up in the night and start rehearsing my lines or start re-writing my dialogues and message my director. Abhishek is not layered and you get what you see. Aishwarya was reserved in the beginning, but opened up while doing a scene in Jodhaa Akbar when she told me, ‘You remind me of my pa!’ She still calls me bhai sahab,” he said.

Recently, Sonu has been in the news for his philanthropic efforts amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Since last year, he has been responding to distress calls and messages, arranging transport for stranded migrant workers, ensuring medical care for the needy and even helping the unemployed find jobs. He talked about his experience of helping people in a memoir titled I Am No Messiah, which also chronicles his journey from Moga to Mumbai.