The actress marked the day with a sit-down dinner with friends, family
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 2, 2017)

Anushka Sharma, who began her birthday week with a day-long trip to an animal shelter and rescue in Udaipur last Thursday, celebrated the day with family, close friends and pet dog, Dude, at her Mumbai residence.

The actress who turned 29 on Monday, has never hosted a Bollywood bash and she did reach out to well-wishers online. One greeting that stood out was from Katrina Kaif who joked, “Happy Birthday to my friend, Anushka Sharma, whom I always seem to be sharing a couch with!” and Manish Malhotra shared a still of Anushka’s bridal turn in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

Eighteen -year-old leg-spinner from Afghanistan, Rashid Khan, who is playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad team too shared that his favourite actress of all time was Anushka and all he wanted was to meet her.

The birthday girl was excited to wake up to a house full of flowers and gifts, and wishes galore from her fan clubs. One of the bouquets was from her Phillauri costar, Mehreen Pirzada.

Anushka’s cricketer-boyfriend, Virat Kohli, who captains Royal Challengers Banglore had an IPL match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhade stadium earlier in the evening.

Since he was in the city, the doting beau was keen to throw his ladylove a special party with his ‘boys’ in attendance. But the reclusive actress wasn’t too kicked about the idea, preferring a sit-down dinner at her suburban pad with friends and her parents instead.

Skipper Virat may have lost the game but at the time of this newspaper going to press, he had not lost hope.