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Hugh Grant recounted a memorable experience from his time filming in India, where he met an 11-year-old boy who introduced himself as a driver.
Hugh Grant appeared in the French film, The Bengali Night, alongside Supriya Pathak.
Before becoming a global star, Hugh Grant made his debut in French cinema with La Nuit Bengali (The Bengali Night), alongside Shabana Azmi, Supriya Pathak, and Soumitra Chatterjee. Directed by Nicholas Klotz, this film was shot in Kolkata, where Grant travelled in 1988. Recently, while discussing his love for working with children, Grant shared a memorable story from his time filming in Bengal. He recalled meeting an 11-year-old boy who introduced himself as a driver, which took the actor by surprise. This unexpected introduction led Hugh to describe India as a “strange place.” According to the actor, the young boy confidently claimed he was a good driver. However, Hugh humorously recounted that the boy ended up crashing the vehicle and was subsequently fired from his job.
While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Paddington star explained, “In my early career, in my 20s, I did some very strange films. I did this French film in India in 1988 and it was a bit of a weird film. I arrived in Kolkata by myself, was told, ‘Your driver will pick you up,’ and I went to the baggage carousel and everyone else picked up their bags and driver met them and off they went. It was just me in the end left alone with my bag and a little boy with no parents. The little boy came up and said, ‘Hello sir, I am your driver,’ and he was maybe 11 years old. I said, ‘Are you sure, he said, ‘Yes, my name is Bisu, I’m your driver for the whole film,’ and I said, ‘Oh, can you drive, Bisu,’ he says, ‘Very well sir, very well’.”
“I had my doubts but he did drive me and sure enough, within 4 days, he crashed quite badly. India was a strange place in 1988 and he was fired. Then I bumped into him right at the end of the shoot, it was about two months later. I bumped into him in the street in Kolkata I said, ‘Bisu, how are you, what’s happening? You all right?’ He said, ‘Oh yes sir, now I’m driving a school bus’,” Hugh Grant added.
Hugh Grant shared the memory when Jimmy Kimmel asked him if he enjoys working with children, as he has shared screen with many young actors. The actor responded that he gets along well with everyone he works with, including child actors. But he made it clear that he prefers not to work with children who are part of the crew.
The Bengali Night was inspired by Mircea Eliade’s novel of the same name, which was originally published in Romanian in 1933.
