Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukherjee starred in Shaad Ali’s romantic drama Saathiya and won the hearts of cinemagoers with their incredible chemistry. But when the celebs were shooting for the 2002 film, they were surrounded by around 2000 fans. Then the director asked Vivek to go to Rani’s make-up van, because he was starting to get nervous.
While speaking to The Indian Express, Vivek Oberoi recalled being mobbed by fans during the shooting of Saathiya. Going back in time, he revealed that his film Company was released on 12 April 2002 and that Sunday he was shooting the memorable scene in which he chases Rani Mukherjee. Since it seemed like a normal day near Gaiety Galaxy’s railway channel, they started filming. By that time Rani had become such a star that she had a security guard.
But suddenly around 11 o’clock people started shouting Chandu Bhai (the name of Vivek’s character in the company). Although he was very excited about it, things started getting real when the crowd grew from 4-5 people to around 2000 and the entire security system broke down. “I was nervous because a day was going to be wasted. Shaad wanted to remove me from there, so he pushed me into Rani’s makeup van and I was looking out of the window,” Oberoi said as fans shouted the dialogue.
Ultimately, the team had to call the police and request them to leave. Director Shaad opened the door, and he asked the Shootout at Lokhandwala actor to stop and look at the crowd present there. “He told me I was a star,” Vivek recalled. The police put him in their van and took him away like a common criminal. They returned and shot the same scene the following Sunday with proper police protection.
During the interview, the actor also shared his experience of filming the small budget film. The Indian Police Force actor said that only Rani got a make-up van while she had to go to restaurant bathrooms and hotel washrooms to change her clothes. Furthermore, he did touch-ups on the streets because no one knew who he was.
Vivek would even carry the tripod on his shoulder and walk with the rest of the crew. Interestingly, the actor shot continuously for 22-23 hours for ‘Saathiya’ and used to keep newspapers on the bench to take a nap and look fresh.
Also read: Do you know Vivek Oberoi left his father’s film which could have launched him and then had to struggle for 18 months?
