When Akshay Kumar surprised a female autorickshaw driver with ₹10K
When Akshay Kumar came across a video featuring one of Mumbai's first female auto rickshaw drivers, he was determined to connect with her. In a recent interview, Chhaya Mohite, one of the city's pioneering female rickshaw drivers, shared her astonishment at meeting Kumar and how his team pursued her for several days to arrange an interview. Chhaya recounted that the actor stumbled upon her video and it took him two months to gather her contact information.
Kumar's team pursued Mohite for a week
Mohite told Siddharth Kannan that Kumar's team had to visit several RTOs to locate her, as they only had her name and photo. She also said that an assistant from the actor's team would call her every day for an interview without disclosing their connection to the celebrity. "During those days, many media people would come to my house and make videos about my daily life as a homemaker and rickshaw driver," she said.
Mohite's surprise encounter with Kumar at Sun-n-Sand Hotel
Despite others advising her to charge for interviews and her husband being reluctant, Mohite agreed to the interview. After a full day of shooting, she was asked to drive her auto-rickshaw to the Sun-n-Sand Hotel. "I stopped my rickshaw right there. Akshay Kumar was in my auto," she recalled. During their ride through Juhu, Kumar inquired about her earnings and even invited her family to visit him anytime they wished.
Kumar's financial aid and Mohite's subsequent fame
Kumar also helped Mohite financially, giving her ₹10,000. She said this meeting happened during the promotion of his 2018 film Padman. Though Kumar invited her to visit him again, she never got another chance to meet him. After her surprise meeting with the actor, Mohite became a celebrity herself and appeared on an episode of The Kapil Sharma Show with her family.
