Amrish Puri once slapped Govinda for arriving 9 hours late? Son Rajeev breaks silence

Amrish Puri and Govinda- Pic credits: Instagram

For decades, a Bollywood story has made headlines that Amrish Puri once slapped Govinda after the actor arrived nine hours late to a film set. But Amrish Puri's son, Rajeev Puri, has now addressed the viral claim, stating such incident would have been completely unlike his father. He has also shared a possible explanation for why Amrish did not work with Govinda again after the 1989 film Do Qaidi.

Amrish Puri's son opens up about the famous Govinda slap story

In a conversation with Vicky Lalwani, Rajeev was questioned about the long-running claim that Amrish got furious with Govinda after he made him wait for several hours on set. According to the story, Amrish arrived for a 9 am shoot while Govinda allegedly reached around 6 pm. Their rumoured argument allegedly ended with Amrish slapping the actor in front of the crew. Rajeev, however, disagreed that it happened.

He said, "I don't think that's true. I don't think he was the type to lose his temper like that. He would raise his voice only after someone would irritate him twice or thrice or something like that. But otherwise, I don't think he would have ever slapped anyone. That's not true."

Rajeev had also heard the story over the years, but never gave it much prominence. "I have also heard and read about it, but it is not significant enough for me to think about, as I know that Daddy would never do something like that."

Why Govinda and Amrish Puri never worked again

While refusing the alleged slap, Rajeev acknowledged that Govinda's long-standing reputation for reaching late could have affected their professional equation. "Because of that, perhaps Govinda did not work with Daddy in the future. Maybe he understood that coming late would not work with him, and perhaps that is why he did not work with him again," Rajeev said.

Nevertheless, he dismissed the possibility of his father holding any grudges against him. "But I don't think Daddy held any grudges over such things."

Amrish Puri and Govinda appeared together in the 1989 film Do Qaidi, which was also their last collaboration. Apart from the two stars, the film also featured Sanjay Dutt, Farah, Neelam Kothari, Gulshan Grover and Suresh Oberoi.