I’ve met and made friends with several Hollywood celebs but meeting Charles, Prince of Wales, was an experience in itself. I was in UK to shoot for Karan Razdan’s 8 when I met Charles at his residence — High Grove in Gloucestershire— over tea and organic biscuits.

Charles welcomed us by saying, ‘You had to drive so far’.

He was extremely courteous and made no attempt to show off his stature.

‘Would you like to see my garden?’ he asked, and we followed.

On his estate is the Islamic Garden, which he has personally designed. The garden bears flowers plus items collected by Charles during his visits to various Islamic nations.

Subsequently, we had tea on the lawns. We spoke for about 45 minutes and Charles’ love for India came through. He spoke of the country’s craftsmanship, design and embroidery and must have said ‘I love India’ at least five times.

When we spoke about 8 , I reminded him about Padmini Kohlapuri — the girl who had kissed him on the cheek during a visit to India. When I told him that the same Padmini played my wife in 8 , he asked me to convey his love to her. When the prince expressed the desire to see my work, I gave him DVDs of Jungle Book 2 and a few of my Bollywood movies.

Charles’ involvement with charity left a lasting impression on me. He has raised millions of pounds for charity by playing polo.

Moreover, he has a shop inside his home where guests are free to buy anything of their choice and the proceeds go to charity. I bought a set of organic candles from the shop during my visit.