Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 27, 2017)

Shah Rukh Khan may have made a tradition out of waving to fans from his balcony to mark Eid every year, but the father-of-three admitted that for his youngest son AbRam every day is Eid because his dad gifts him a toy every day.

However, the festival was not just for his youngest son, who wore a white kurta-pyjama like his dad, for the first time. SRK made sure to also spend time with his older kids Aryan and Suhana who were home for the holidays. “I’m planning to cook dinner for them and since I can only cook pasta, that’s the only dish on offer. I made it in the Italian style once but Suhana wasn’t impressed, saying it tasted ‘theek thaak’ so I will try harder this time,” he laughed.

This year called for a double celebration as Eid coincided with SRK completing 25 years in the industry. To mark the occasion, the annual Eid luncheon with media and fans was hosted at a Bandra five-star and not at the actor’s residence. The lavish spread featured keema pav, biryani, a live oriental counter and a lavish dessert spread of phirni, moong dal halwa, rasmalai and rabdi.

But SRK stuck to his ritual of waving at the sea of fans from the highest balcony of Mannat while apologising to neighbours and the traffic cops for all the honking.” “But I have discovered through social media just how many people travel from different cities to see me and I feel inspired by that to work harder,” he asserted.

SRK has been reading the Mahabharata aloud to lil’ AbRam for a year-and-a-half now and recalls how growing up, his father would take him to watch the Ram Leela with the same enthusiasm that he displayed for Eid celebrations. “I was educated on all festivals and I narrate mythological stories to my kids all the time. But the Mahabharata is 18 volumes and has so many names that every time we move to the next chapter, I write down the names in case Abram asks me about them later,” he revealed.

When quizzed about his daughter Suhana’s Bollywood plans, he reasoned that making public appearances didn’t mean that she was gearing up for an acting debut. “Suhana still has five years of education left to complete and Aryan will be studying for another four years. If she wants to be an actress, she will study to become one so there’s a long, long time for that,” he said.


Arms wide open
An enthusiastic SRK fan, in his idol’s all-embracing romantic reel-life avatar was interrupted, mid-pose, by a cop on the road even as revelers looked on. This is probably what SRK meant by a ‘Jabra fan’.

Rogue nation
A pickpocket managed to momentarily steal SRK’s thunder before he was apprehended by a constable and subsequently marched away from the venue.