Kamal Haasan scolded me because I was an hour late; Rajesh Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha showed up whenever they wanted: Poonam Dhillon | Bollywood News

Veteran actor Kamal Haasan started working in the movies in the 1970s, and quickly became a huge superstar in the Tamil industry. In the 1980s, with films like Ek Duje Ke Liye and Sagar, Kamal also developed a fan following in Bollywood. But despite his success, HE did not fall into the trappings that were notoriously associated with the superstars of that era. Actors like Shatrughan Sinha and Rajesh Khanna were infamous for being tardy, and many of their co-stars from the time have shared anecdotes about the same. So, when Poonam Dhillon, who was working with many Hindi film stars of the era, got a chance to work with Kamal, she assumed he would be just like them. But instead, Poonam got a severe scolding from him.
In a chat with Hindi Rush, Poonam shared that she worked with Kamal in films like Yeh To Kamaal Ho Gaya, Yaadgar and Geraftaar. She said that she learnt discipline after her experience working in the south. “The first time I got a scolding on set… it was Kamal Haasan, because I was late on set,” she shared. Poonam said that because she had been working with the likes of Rajesh and Shatrughan, who showed up when they felt like, a 7 am call time did not mean much and she would often show up 8 am.
“Because in Mumbai, being late 30-45 minutes was fine because my co-actors would be people like Rajesh Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha. These people would show up when they wanted so we were used to taking liberty of 30-45 minutes when going on set,” she recalled. Poonam said that she was once shooting in Chennai and was called in for a 7 am shift and she showed up at 8 am, thinking that she wasn’t late but as soon as she reached, Kamal took her aside and gave her an earful.
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“I reached and I wished everyone ‘good morning’ but everyone was sitting with a serious face. Kamal Haasan came to me and said ‘Poonam, they have been here since 7 am, all of them. They don’t have cars, they have come from afar. All the lightmen, cameramen, so imagine what time they left from their house. They must have woken up at 5 am or even before that and you have come at 8. They have all been waiting. It’s not right,” she recalled and said that even though Kamal put across his thoughts in a nice way, she was struck what he was saying. She added that since Kamal was a superstar, he could have taken the liberty to show up late, but he did not.
Poonam said that this was a wake up call for her, as she noticed that technicians are often taken for granted on set, while star tantrums are given a little too much attention. She noticed that the treatment of technicians was also better in the south, as she recollected, “In south, the unit was treated very nicely. In the evening, when snacks were served… we called it tiffin, it would be idli, vada, uttapam, and everybody would eat it, not just the actors. There was a lot of respect for technicians in the south,” she said.