It's become a habit, hard to break off. But every film so far featuring Upen Patel has his voice dubbed by a dubbing artiste. Though he had hoped things would change with Money Hai Toh Honey Hai, it wasn't so.

Producer Kumar Mangat has for the second time in a row after One Two Three got Upen's voice dubbed by a dubbing artiste. When asked, Upen shrugs, "The producer would be the best person to answer why my voice was dubbed. I don't want to create any issues. I'd rather talk about my trip to Los Angeles where I've been invited to serve as Grand Marshal at the Independence Day parade on August 10."

Upen is the first male Grand Marshal from Bollywood at the Parade. "I believe Bipasha Basu and other Bolly queens got the honour earlier. So I'm quite delighted." Another source of delight? The house on Pali Hill in Bandra (Mumbai) that Upen is building. Interestingly, the entire space is being designed and decorated on the internet by a designer Eric Mutheza from Dubai. "He never personally came down to look at my place. I gave him design specifications on the email and he instructed his assistants in Mumbai to do the needful. But it's turned out beautifully," says Upen.

It looks like long-distance relationships are Upen's destiny. His Brazilian girlfriend Camilla Tavares lives and works in Italy. And they hardly get the chance to connect. "In fact Upen and Camilla have hardly had time together since they got involved. They did get attracted to each other. But after that she has been busy in Italy and he in Mumbai. She has been down in Mumbai only once. Even now, Upen plans to return from LA in August via London to visit his family. But he has no plans of meeting Camilla in Italy."