Manu Rishi Chadha: Me and Abhishek Bachchan used to fight over Haldiram bhujiya during Dasvi shoot

Manu Rishi Chadha confesses running behind in the social media game and promises to be more active in building up his account on Instagram. Nonetheless, he continues to nurture his love for acting and delivers one convincing performance after another, building memories on the way. He recently appeared in the suspense thriller, U-Turn and and the web series, United Kachche. Also read: The Kerala Story: ‘I promise those who are silent, will speak tomorrow’ says Manu Rishi Chadha

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Manu Rishi shared several fun memories from the shooting of Dasvi with Abhishek Bachchan and United Kachche, in which he played a Pakistani. He also shared a scary incident from the making of U-Turn. Excerpts:

Is this true that your fans know you by face but not by name?
Yes, I do feel the same when some come to meet me at airports, get pictures clicked with me but fail to recall my name. I just did a photo shoot with Atul Kasbekar. He told me that since I do poetry or talk about various things, I should go aggressive on social media and said then only people will start recognising me and follow me. My wife keeps on saying, ‘why don’t you work on your PR and social media!’ Actually I am a lazy guy.

You play a constable in U-turn, it is a suspense thriller which looks like a horror film from the trailer. Not everyone watches horror films.
One shouldn’t be afraid of horror films, that is also fun. I play a very ordinary man in U-Turn who goes on to do something very important in the climax. The audience finally notices him in the end and realise that such an ordinary man went on to do something so big.

Do you have a hilarious or a scary story to share from the film’s shoot?
I had to fall from 97 feet and was tied at the height by a harness. It had to be raining, phantom cameras were there and sheets were laid out for me on the floor. But the pressure in the rain instrument fused and I was left hanging for half an hour. There was a break during which my director threw me a vada pav and I caught it. Then he threw me dhokla and samosa and I had it all while hanging from the harness. It was a very memorable moment for me.

The process was very intense since it was a suspense thriller. That atmosphere has to be created then only the audience feels the mood of the film. We shot at locations where we started feeling scared. One night, after the pack up at 3am, I had to go back by car. When I started walking, I felt someone was walking with me. I ran towards the car and since the driver wasn’t there, I was left standing outside the car all alone.

Before this, you played a jailor in Dasvi. How was it working on the film with Abhishek Bachchan?
Me and Abhishek Bachchan used to eat Haldiram bhujiya all the time. The packets of snacks used to be placed at the director’s table for the team. There is bhujiya, chocolates and other snacks so that the director and his team is not left hungry. We used to come on set on some days. Sometimes I would push him and grab the packet and sometimes, he would push me and take away the box and say, ‘sir, aapki nazar bhujiya pe thi par maine udha lia (you were eyeing the snack but I grabbed it).’ Whosoever would grab the box would finish all of it. I used to play football so I would use shoulder push to get bhujiya from him as I was a centre forward guy. I message him whenever I eat bhujiya now and let him know that I am remembering him.

You play a Pakistani landlord in United Kachche. Share your experience of shooting for the show in the UK.A very emotional thing happened in the UK. We are Indians and have a certain perception about Pakistanis. But I was a human in the show that had a Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi stay in the same house. Its a very political situation by the way. When I met Indians and Pakistanis in London, we went on dinners with them and more than fun, it was an emotional moment for me. There was no border between Indians and Pakistanis in London. Their kids eat, play and study at the same place. Those kids don’t care about borders. Those living in London are neither going back to India nor Pakistan. They will grow up hearing interesting stories of their countries. We will continue to fight at the border and live peacefully together abroad. Our cast had a lot of fun there. People love Sunil Grover a lot in London and because of him, we were also showered with a lot of love.