Upen Patel can be quite the prankster when he gets down to it. And Celina Jaitly discovered that side to him while shooting for Suneel Darshan's Shaka Laka Boom Boom, recently.
But like the sporting girl that she is, she took it in her stride and actually enjoyed the prank when she finally got to know about it.
Disappearing act
Upen narrates what he did to Celina, saying, "We were shooting for the film when Celina's mom, who had accompanied her on the sets that day, told me that Celina is very hygiene conscious and finicky about being clean.
So I decided to play a prank on her. I pretended to have a very bad cold and kept sneezing right next to her. I also took a water spray along and would slyly spritz it on her every time I sneezed. She became very concerned about me and said, "You poor thing, you have such a bad cold" and then disappeared into her van."
Upen says that she then came back with a medicine to help ease his supposed cold. "But every time I sneezed, she would disappear into her van for a few minutes and return.
When she went in there for the fifth time, her mom told me that Celina kept going into the van to wash her hands as she thought I was actually sneezing on her! We finally told her that we were only joking with her and she took it in good spirit. She started laughing and hitting me playfully, telling her mother, "Amma, why didn't you tell me?!" It was quite funny!"
Celina says that Upen is a very nice guy and is very easy to work with. "We're having a great time doing Shaka Laka Boom Boom. I didn't know he was playing a prank on me, so I felt very sorry for him because I thought he was down with a serious infection.
I thought he was going to contract pneumonia! He sneezed with such ferocity, so I quietly went into my van and cleaned my hands with a sanitiser. I must have finished the entire bottle that day! It was only later that I realised they were pulling a fast one on me because I'm such a hygiene freak!"
Rockstar drama
On a more professional note, Upen says that he's very happy with his role in Shaka Laka Boom Boom. "This is one of the best roles of my career. It gives me scope to emote and be stylish at the same time. Bobby and I play rockstars. There is lots of drama in the film," says Upen, who has been recently signed by Provogue as its brand ambassador.
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