We have all heard about honour among thieves, but loyalty and integrity hardly comes into play in the cutthroat world of Bollywood. So it comes as a pleasant surprise to see the first family of the Indian film fraternity, namely the Bachchans, not just practicing this rare trait but also putting money where their mouth is.

Recently, Abhishek Bachchan, returned the bulk of his pay check to filmmakers Abbas-Mastan because “Players” crashed and burned at the box office. “The Italian Job” remake, which also starred Sonam Kapoor and Bipasha Basu, was being looked upon as a box office winner but a weak script and ham acting put the brakes on its earnings even before it accelerated in the popularity stakes.

Bachchan also took full responsibility of his contribution to the film flopping and returned the cash in good faith. It seems the husband is taking tips from wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who also did a similar act of kindness a few months ago. We all know raising a child isn’t cheap, but the Bachchan wife learned this the hard way even before her precious bundle of joy was born last year.

Not that any amount of hard cash compares to the birth of a child, but in the case of the Bachchan newborn – or ‘Beti B’ as she is called in the media – her arrival cost her mama a whopping Rs2.1 million. According to sources, that was the amount the award-winning actress had received upon signing on the dotted line last year to star in director Madhur Bhandarkar’s upcoming, “Heroine”, which has been produced by UTV Motion Pictures.

Of course, when Bachchan’s pregnancy was revealed a month after committing and shooting for the film, she was dropped like a hot potato, with Bhandarkar allegedly going into depression that his dream project would be canned. After taking to his blog and conveying his feelings, the filmmakers finally scrapped “Heroine” temporarily and supposedly took back the money that was handed to Bachchan.

Sources say that Bachchan was under no obligation to return the cash considering she had shot for the film for 10-odd days, but the professional that she is saw her return the fee and maintain a stoic silence on the entire saga.