Prized possession

STRAP: Hrishikesh Pandey cherishes letter received from Amitabh Bachchan

Hrishikesh Pandey has literally grown up on Amitabh Bachchan’s movies. Coming from an Army background, the CID actor shares how he was not allowed to watch many films on the big screen unless it starred Big B. Reason being the entire family is a die-hard fan of Amitabh!“My dad never allowed us to watch movies in theatres. He only made an exception if the film starred Amitji or was a patriotic movie,” he says, remembering a memorable incident of his life.

It dates back to 1982 when Big B met with a life-threatening accident on the sets of the film Coolie.“The entire nation was praying for him. As kids, my sister and I had written a small note for him, which we managed to send to his place. When his health improved, he actually responded to our letter. We used to live in Jabalpur at that time and were overjoyed to have heard back from him. It was unbelievable to receive a letter from Amitji along with his photograph. I still have that precious letter,” adds the actor, known for TV shows such as Kohi Apna Sa, Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke and Apradhi.