Navratri 2026 | Manu Rishi Chadha on his memories of growing up in the Capital: I miss those days of Ramlila in Delhi

Actor-writer Manu Rishi Chadha recounts his childhood spent in Delhi, misses food enjoyed with late actor Rishi Kapoor, and rues over city's theatre etiquette

Ramlila diaries, on and off the stage

Actor-writer Manu Rishi Chadha recently visited Delhi to perform his play, Window Tak Aashiqui. (Photo: Manoj Verma/HT)

Born and brought up in Old Delhi, Manu Rishi Chadha reminisces about the good old days of watching Ramlila with family, and later, performing Ramlila on stage. “Is saal kaash aa paun yahan wapas Ramlila dekhne. Main bahut miss karta hoon unn dino ko (when I used to visit) Ramlila with my family. Main unn memories se aaj bhi emotionally attached hoon,” says the 55-year-old, recently seen in web series Operation Safed Sagar. “I played a vanar in Ramlilas organised by Shri Dharmic Leela Committee and Shri Sanatan Dharm Leela Samiti, and my family used to sit among the audience and applaud enthusiastically,” he adds.

Dilli ka khaana Ft. Rishi Kapoor

Every visit to Delhi for Chadha translates to food first. And as he lists his fave dishes, the actor can be seen almost visualising the delicacies: “Sabse pehle aate hain Nand ke chhole bhature; usmein woh jo do tukde aloo ke rakhte hain... uff, mazedaar! Phir aate hain Nathu’s (in Bengali Market) ke chowmein. Then, Chandni Chowk ki taraf, Karim’s mein (non-veg).” Such is his expertise, that Chadha became a beloved food guide for late actor Rishi Kapoor while they were filming Rajma Chawal (2018).

“If we reached the shoot by 5.30am, we would wait to get our hands on all these food treasures in Old Delhi,” he recalls, listing their common favourites: Lotan ke chhole, jalebis from Dariba Corner and dahi bhallas from Natraj. For non-vegetarian food, they would head to Karim’s. And when with vegetarians, Kapoor particularly enjoyed bedmi aloo.

‘Delhiites, time se aajaya karo yaar!’

Chadha recalls a humorous incident from a previous production here: “Humare play ko shuru hue 10 minutes hogaye thhe, aur ek audience member ne bola, ‘Bhaisahab, thoda sa peechhe se restart karenge?’ Bechare theatre pehli baar dekhne aaye thhe, unhe laga remote se peechhe aage ho sakta hai! Fortunately some audience members explained it does not work like that. But it was damn funny!” His message to Delhi’s theatre-goers: “Time se aajaya karo, yaar!”

Dilli beyond the smog

The festive season unfortunately brings with it Delhi’s infamous air pollution in the newspaper headlines, which he believes is a conversation that could go beyond politics and become more emotional. “Agar ye kiya hota toh kab ka smog khatam ho gaya hota,” he says. The pollution debate also shapes how he views the Capital’s festive traditions. “Mujhe lagta hai Dilli mein abhi bhi bahut log patakhe jalaate honge. Delhi ziddi logon ka shehar hai,” Chadha shares, adding that he stopped bursting crackers and has made sure his children don’t either.

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