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Award for Oye Lucky Lucky Oye ended Dibakar Banerjee’s friendship with Manu Rishi Chadha
Manu Rishi recalls how winning the Filmfare Award for Oye Lucky Lucky Oye strained his friendship with Dibakar Banerjee.
Manu Rishi opened up about his fallout with Dibakar Banerjee.
(Photo: Dibakar Banerjee, DIFF)
Actor Manu Rishi Chadha, who plays Pervez Musharraf on the Netflix show Operation Safed Sagar, has been a familiar face in Hindi films for almost two decades now. He first shot to wider recognition with Dibakar Banerjee’s 2008 film Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, in which he played the immensely likeable sidekick Bangali. Rishi also co-wrote the film with Banerjee and penned its dialogues, for which he went on to win several awards. However, the success of the film and Rishi’s subsequent recognition also became the source of a rift between him and Banerjee.
‘His bitterness was absolutely correct’
In a conversation with Kindle Cast, Rishi recalled how his Filmfare nomination led to a difficult conversation with the filmmaker, who himself had not received a nomination. “When I got the nomination at the Filmfare Awards, Dibakar told me, and he was absolutely correct. He said, ‘Boss, my film wasn’t even put in the Best Film category. What makes you think you’re going to get the Best Dialogue award? You’re being stupid. Nobody even wants to accept films like ours.’ His bitterness was absolutely correct,” Rishi said.
Despite Banerjee’s reservations, Rishi decided to attend the awards ceremony. He recalled, “I’m saying this from the heart. I told him, ‘I feel like it’s my uncle’s son’s wedding, and I’m going to attend. Let’s see what happens. I want to see this kind of world.’ But he was correct. And after I won the award, the friendship ended. I felt, was it more important to work, or was the award more important? Working with him was important, and I enjoyed working with him.”
Rishi had previously spoken about his equation with Banerjee in a conversation with Gautam Ahuja on his YouTube channel. The actor admitted that he still does not know why the two never worked together again after Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, but wondered if his award win had played a role.
“We never worked again after Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. I don’t know why. Sometimes I feel, is it because I won the Filmfare Award? Is that the reason? To be honest, things like these do affect dynamics. He was the one who gave me a chance with his film. The Filmfare Awards ended up nominating me, but you tell me, didn’t Oye Lucky Lucky Oye deserve to be nominated in the Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film categories?” he said.
About Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Released in 2008, the crime caper starred Abhay Deol, Paresh Rawal, Neetu Chandra, Manu Rishi, Manjot Singh, Richa Chaddha, and Archana Puran Singh. The film won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film.The film was inspired by the real life shenanigans of Devinder Singh alias Bunty, a real-life thief.
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