Unconventional methods have made Vidhu Vinod Chopra a name for controversy. Such was the case when Manoj Bajpayee narrated an incident where Vidhu Vinod Chopra bit Neha's (Shabana Bajpai) hand to correct a scene in Kareeb (1998).
That was an unconventional act, signifying the great pressure filmmakers sometimes place on actors to achieve perfection.
During song sequences in Kareeb, newcomer Shabana tended to raise the wrong hand. Finally, tired of this habit, Chopra bit her hand so that she would remember the proper gesture. This was a funny way of making the correction.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra was a little different, and that's exactly how this incident highlighted the extremism of his desire for perfection.
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Shabana, who had just entered the industry at the time, may have seen this as part of the creative process but didn't know it was such an extreme measure taken for accuracy.
Though extreme, the biting of an actor's hand shows the pressure fresh faces had to face in order to meet the expectations of the director.
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In that particular moment, the director might sometimes motivate in weird ways.
Chopra was doing something almost extreme, but it still served the purpose in the attempt at filmmaking.
This incident from Kareeb offers a glimpse into the hardest facts of filmmaking and the abnormal ways directors sometimes go to deliver their vision.

