Farah Khan hosts a special terrace party for the tennis ace before flying off to the Cairo International Film Festival today; Tabu dances all night while Leander Paes, Robin Uthappa keep Sania company.
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 17, 2015)

Farah Khan has a new roommate - Sania Mirza, who is the reason she doesn't want to leave her house anymore. And on Sunday, when the tennis ace turned 29, the filmmaker threw a party for her. The guest list was hand-picked by Sania and Farah made sure all her friends made it too.

The paparazzi was unaware of the secret bash and when guests, Riteish Deshmukh and wife Genelia, Parineeti Chopra and Sushant Singh Rajput began to tweet, shutterbugs rushed to Farah's Lokhandwala home. "But the party had already moved to the terrace by then," a guest informed Mirror.

Sania, who was on the sets of Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film in Hyderabad, with biryani, clicking selfies with the Badshah and his co-actors, told her director buddy that she wanted to bring in her birthday with Prem. And both Farah and Sania sent personal invites to bhai. "Salman was at his farmhouse in Karjat and drove down only for the party. It was incredible to have him there," said the delighted birthday girl. The actor, who attended Diwali parties all of last week, relished Farah's home-cooked mutton biryani, but stayed away from cake and the mithai counter.

Farah's brother, Sajid Khan, turned "Retro-DJ" for the night, playing chartbusters from the '70s and '80s while Sonu Sood, Chunky Pandey and Neha Dhupia steamed up the dance floor. "Saath Samundar Paar", "Aaj Ki Raat", "I am a Disco Dancer" played back-toback as cricketer Robin Uthappa got groovy with his fiancee, tennis player Sheethal Goutham.

The couple was making their first appearance together after announcing their engagement on social media this week. Beside them Leander Paes was spotted doing a desi thumka while Tabu fired up the dance floor. "Tabu danced till 4 am, first with everybody, then with Salman and then alone. She was unstoppable," Farah guffawed, admitting that she was exhausted the next day and only got out of bed to pack her bags.

Fifteen years after she choreographed Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in "Sooraj Hua Madham", she is flying back to Egypt today to receive the 'Faten Hamama Excellence Award' for her contribution to Indian cinema at the ongoing 37th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF).

And as a special tribute to Bollywood, the closing film at the festival is her directorial, Om Shanti Om. A large palace set from the title song has been re-created and local dancers will swing to Farah's tunes. "Bollywood's a big deal in the country. Egyptians love song-and-dance, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. I'm most excited and humbled about the felicitation dinner being hosted on Wednesday in my honour. It will be attended by Egyptian cinema's icons," informed an elated Farah.