April Fool’s special: When celebs got pranked!

They fool-fired me!

Ranveer Brar, Chef

“Fifteen years ago when I was an executive chef with a hotel, I came to the office one day and it wouldn’t open. The nameplate too had my deputy’s name as executive chef. So, I went to HR and they simply told me that they had got my resignation letter, which was approved with immediate effect. I was livid and when I was about to leave, it was revealed that this was the GM’s idea of pulling a Fool’s Day prank on me!”

My dad-in-law towed the line!

Jitish Kallat, artist

“Exactly 20 years back, after a few failed attempts to play a prank on my wife Reena and my father-in-law who was visiting us, I was sitting dejected when my dad-in-law casually walked to the window and reacted as if his car was being towed. This made me jump off my seat and foolishly rush to the door without realising that his car was parked in an assigned parking slot of our apartment complex and couldn’t possibly be towed!”

Happy birthday, not

Sorabh Pant, author, comedian

“I never remember dates and my dad loves to exploit this. Over the years, on this day, he’s had me believing in various things like my name was on the front page for some controversy, that I had gotten into a college I did not apply to, that the government has banned YouTube to list a few. One year he told me to urgently call my mom on her birthday and I fell for the prank again. My mom was like, ‘My birthday was last month. You wished me. How can you forget so fast?’” 

The negative reaction I’ll never forget

Karanvir Bohra, actor

“This happened when I was seven or eight-years-old. At that time, movies were shot on film reels and my grandfather was a filmmaker [Ramkumar Bohra]. We had got a fresh stock of negatives in the house, and, my uncle, Suresh Bohra, decided to play a prank on my grandfather. He told him that I had exposed the negatives and he will have to reshoot everything. He got so angry, that without asking me he gave me one chamaat on my face. I’ll never forget that thappad ki goonj!”

Passed, with scholarship

Divya Dutta, actor

“I was very good in studies. Once my result date coincided with April 1. Unfortunately, I asked a cousin to go and check my results. She came back and said that forget getting a scholarship, you have probably failed the exam. I freaked out and started howling. And then I saw her giggling in a corner. I beat the sh*t out of her after realising the date.”

From HT Brunch, March 29, 2020

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