After dating each other for about a decade, Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in Lucknow, in October last year. Their wedding reception in Mumbai in a heritage site grabbed a lot of attention for its eco-friendly theme and the couple’s quirky outfits. The lovebirds had first met on the sets of Fukrey (2013) and reportedly, that’s where love blossomed. As Richa gears up to play the no-nonsense and loud-mouthed Bholi Punjaban once again in the third instalment of Fukrey, she walks down the memory lane and spills the beans on how they began dating.
In an exclusive chat with News18, she says, “We used to hang out a lot. We would meet once every month. This was in 2013. We would keep meeting each other in one way or the other, be it at screenings or over meals at our friends’ homes. After hanging out so much, we soon realised that we can go out on a date or two and see what happens next. That’s how it started.”
Speaking about why they decided to keep their brewing romance hidden from their co-stars Varun Sharma, Pulkit Samrat and Manjot Singh, she jokes, “I didn’t tell anyone about Ali and myself. I thought Manjot would feel jealous because he was single. In fact, he’s permanently single (laughs).”
While the rest of the cast members will be reprising their roles from Fukrey and Fukrey Returns (2017) in Fukrey 3, Ali had opted out of the film due to a chock-o-block schedule and in a statement revealed that he had to choose Mirzapur 3 over Fukrey 3. But will he be seen in a cameo appearance in this film? “In the last film, he gets married to a character named Neetu ma’am and is on his honeymoon in Goa. So, I don’t know if he has a cameo in the film. I haven’t seen it yet,” says Richa, who started a production house with Ali in 2021.
For the unversed, Ali played Zafar, a struggling musician, in the Fukrey franchise. Speaking to News18 earlier about his absence from the third film, he had said, “It breaks my heart but that has nothing to do with Hollywood. It was actually… I was stuck with work here and Mirzapur 3 was also happening at the same time. It was the same production, so we all had to take a call together. It was honestly heart-breaking for all of us but it’s Fukrey, it is family. I chill with these guys more than I end up shooting with them. I think it is one of the few friendships that have carried on for so long.”
Fukrey 3 also stars Pankaj Tripathi and is directed by Mrighdeep Singh Lamba under the banner of Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment. It is slated for a release on September 28.
