Riteish Deshmukh has opened up about the unexpected act of kindness he experienced outside a Mumbai restaurant, when he found himself cashless while trying to help a child. The actor said the incident stayed with him, particularly because it came from a paparazzo whom he had never met before.

Riteish was left cashless while trying to help a child

Riteish recalled that the child was selling something for Rs 100, but he had no cash on him. “We were walking out, and there was a kid and you’ve become so cashless that even if you want to…He was selling some stuff, it was for 100 rupees. I wasn’t carrying money. Now, I don’t carry money because now it’s digital payment,” he said.

He first asked his chauffeur, “Sau rupaye chhutta hai kya?” (Do you have a change of Rs 100?) but he told me that he did not have any. Riteish then turned to the child and asked if he had Google Pay, as he shared that many children, who sell things, carry a QR code along. To which, the child replied, “GPay nahin hai mere paas” (I don’t have GPay).

A paparazzo stepped in to help

That was when a paparazzo offered to pay the Rs 100. Riteish said he could have refused the offer, but then the child would not have received what he wanted to give him.

“And it was so nice of one pap, whose name I didn’t know, but now, I know, his name is Sushil Mohite, if I’m not wrong, but if I’m wrong, then I’m very sorry. He said, ‘Main deta hoon’ (I will give),” Riteish recalled.

The situation quickly became chaotic, with cars honking and the media around him. Riteish tried to get the paparazzo’s GPay details so that he could return the money, but the photographer told him, “Nahin, rehne do” (No, let it go). Unable to find him again, Riteish clicked his picture before getting into his car.

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He took to Instagram to track him down

Once he was inside the car, Genelia asked him what he planned to do. Riteish said he did not know how to get the photographer’s number, so he decided to put his picture on his Instagram Story.

“So then I just posted on my story saying, ‘I owe him. I need to pay him back.’ And finally, in fact I got his number,” he said.

Riteish eventually managed to contact Sushil, thanked him and insisted on returning the money. Even though the paparazzo initially told him he did not want to accept it, Riteish said he completed the transaction because he felt it was something he owed him.

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‘We don’t realise that there are moments when they step up to help you’

For Riteish, the incident was less about the Rs 100 and more about the gesture itself. He said celebrities often see paparazzi as people who are simply doing their job, trying to get their pictures, but there are moments when they can also step up and help.

“It was the kindness that the pap showed where he wanted to pay for me. It’s always chaotic, getting in and out on the road, and the paps are doing their job. We always think that they are probably wanting our pictures and they are in need. But we don’t realise that there are moments when they step up to help you,” he said.

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Genelia also pointed out that they have always experienced the paps’ support. “And we’ve always had that. Always,” she said.

Riteish then summed up the irony of the entire incident with a laugh: “People always say that you’re paying paps. I was the one who got paid by them.”