How Govinda’s Superstition ruined a movie and messed up TV show shooting schedule – Anecdote told by an Extra on set

It was for a film about a reality TV show, starring the actor Govinda. I’d never heard of him, but everyone said he was a huge star back in the day, though he hadn’t done much recently.

So, we show up on set the first day. I’m put in a trailer with the other white extras. We get into costume, have our makeup done, and then… we wait. Which is fine — waiting’s part of the job. But we keep waiting. All day. From around 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. — and not a single shot gets filmed.

Day two, same story. We finally start asking questions. Turns out Govinda doesn’t want to shoot today — the day isn’t auspicious. Apparently, he’s become incredibly superstitious and has even brought his numerologist to set. This guy advises him on everything. If the stars don’t line up, Govinda won’t shoot.

On day three, we finally hear it’s an auspicious day — but only after noon. I can’t remember exactly how many days I spent on that set, but it was a lot. The crew kept trying to work around him, shooting whatever they could without him and planning to “cheat” his scenes later in editing.

Meanwhile, he’s rewriting parts of the script, showing up sporadically, and sometimes just walking off set because someone said something “unlucky.” It honestly felt like watching someone unravel.

Eventually, we get to the big scene — the finale where his character wins the reality show. The film’s in financial trouble by this point, so they’ve sold some product placement to a jewelry company called Aag. I’m in the main scene with Govinda, and my line includes the word “Aag.”

We roll camera, I say my line — and Govinda immediately calls “Cut!” (which actors really aren’t supposed to do unless something catastrophic happens). He brings over his numerologist/guru/whatever-he-was, and they confer. The verdict? “Aag,” which means “fire,” is inauspicious.

At first, it sounds like they’ll let me film my line in close-up so they can edit him in later. But no — apparently even that would anger the spirits. Govinda refuses to do it. And that, as it turns out, was the end. The film collapsed completely.