Amitabh Bachchan told me I wasn’t being nice to him in Baghban: Divya Dutta says, ‘I couldn’t distinguish reel from real’

For Divya Dutta, working with Amitabh Bachchan early in her career turned into a life lesson she hasn’t forgotten. Speaking about her experience on the sets of Baghban, the actor recalled how she struggled to separate her on-screen character from real life. Portraying a negative role, she inadvertently let her character’s coldness affect her off-camera interactions until Bachchan gently intervened with kindness. His warmth and guidance helped her understand the vital boundary between performance and reality, a perspective she carries even today.“Mr Bachchan played a pivotal role early on in my career. I didn’t know how to distinguish between reel and real,” she said during a recent interaction with After Hours with All About Eve.Divya added, “I love him, who doesn’t, but in Baghban, I played a very nasty woman, and I was a child myself, I was 17–18 at that time.” Opening up about how the role began affecting her behaviour, she shared, “Earlier, during the initial days, I was my exuberant self and I would wish him good morning. Happy that I am with Mr Bachchan... It was a dream come true.”“But gradually the nasty bit of the role started getting onto me and my good mornings just dimmed away,” she added.It was Amitabh Bachchan who noticed the shift and gently stepped in.Recalling the moment, Divya said, “He called me and told me that I am not being nice to him in the film. He came to my defence.”“I told him, ‘No sir, I’m just saying my lines’. He didn’t say anything, he was quiet, but what he wanted to say was, ‘Exactly, you are saying your lines, you are not saying it to me, so don’t feel so bad about it.’”She further revealed how the veteran actor eased her discomfort. “And then he pampered me with food, and I was so normal and happy.” The actor said the moment stayed with her. “So a young girl of 17–18 would never forget that. After that I got to know how to distinguish between real and reel.”Baghban, which also starred Hema Malini, remains one of the most memorable films in Divya Dutta’s career, and clearly, one that came with a lasting lesson beyond the screen.