Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 3, 2017)

The world comes together for SRK

Like every year, the crowd at Mannat had been unmanageable since Wednesday night when thousands of fans turned up at Bandstand and stood vigil outside his bungalow, Mannat, for a glimpse of birthday boy Shah Rukh Khan. Bollywood’s baadshah who had been partying in Alibaug since the previous day, flew in at around 4 pm in his private chopper. Always attentive to his fans, the 52-year-old actor immediately went up to the terrace to wave out and blow kisses to them. His four-yearold son, AbRam, was by his side, clutching his lunchbox.

Despite heavy police bandobast, traffic came to standstill and Mirror photographer Satyajit Desai caught an exhausted fan as he fainted on the street. Immediately, a crowd gathered around him, trying to revive him with water and toffees.

Meanwhile, keeping up with his annual tradition of celebrating his special day with his fan clubs and members of the media, SRK headed to a nearby five-star in the evening. En route, a visibly moved King Khan shared, “A ray of sunshine... A sea of love...Thank you all for the happiness you bring every year!”

At around 9 pm, the doors closed on the actor and 5000-odd fans who had gathered from 45 countries around the world. After regaling them for close to two hours, he drove home to a quiet dinner with family and a few close friends. Aamir Khan was among those expected to drop by.


Cannes Cinderella on a cakewalk

Cordon Bleu graduate and baker, Tania Behl, recreated Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s Michael Cinco-designed shimmering blue and white gown from the premiere of Okja at this year’s Cannes for the actress’s 44th birthday. The cake, shaped like an Ash lookalike in edible vanilla and chocolate, took over four days to put together and was picture perfect. Tania’s sister, producer Srishti Behl shared a picture of the cake and got an immediate response from the birthday girl’s actor-husband, Abhishek Bachchan, who quipped, “And your neice (Aaradhya) absolutely loved it!” Awwww!

Baby time for b’day girl

Esha Deol, who gave birth to a baby girl, Radhya Takhtani, on October 20, spent her 35th birthday quietly with her newborn and the family. Mom Hema Malini was away in Mathura and stayed connected through constant calls. Papa Dharmendra, doting husband Bharat Takhtani, sister Ahana and brother-in-law Vaibhav and her in-laws were around to make the day special for her.

Mubarakan Ileana

Mubarakan… Mubarakan... was the order of the day as Ileana D’Cruz’s co-stars Anil Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor and Athiya Shetty were among the first to wish the actress as she turned 30 on November 1. Interestingly, she shares her birthday with the comedy caper’s director Anees Bazmee, as Anil pointed out. It was a quiet day for Ileana with family and friends, gifts and cakes.


Masaba doesn’t want to discuss her age

Sisters Sonam and Rhea Kapoor with chef Pooja Dhingra and designer Masaba Gupta’s filmmaker-husband, Madhu Mantena, brought in her 29th birthday at a Thai restaurant with a cosy dinner and three chocolate cakes. “I don’t want to talk about all of that (her age),” Masaba joked when Rhea asked her how it feels to be inching towards her thirties. While Sonam gifted Masaba a bag full of luxury products, her staff decorated her boutique with balloons, making sure the b’day girl knew she was the “best boss”.


Turning 18 with chocolate and nostalgia

Actor-producer Sanjay Kapoor and his jewellery designer-wife Maheep were beaming from ear-to-ear at daughter Shanaya 18th birthday. The teenager celebrated her special day alongside Shah Rukh Khan at his Alibaug farmhouse where she cut a cake with buddies Suhana Khan and Ananya Panday (Chunky and Bhavana Panday’s daughter). The two-tier cake featured designer bags, stilettos and a box of alcohol — all made from chocolate.

Doting parents Sanjay and Maheep took a stroll down memory lane with emoji- filled captions. Shanaya’s actor-cousins Arjun Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor and Mohit Marwah piled on the nostalgia too with “Thursday throwbacks” of Shanaya as a toddler. “How beautiful she has grown up to be. Time flies!” Gauri Khan and Sussanne Khan gushed from the sidelines.

Musical treat

A special video of Anu Malik singing iconic tracks, including “Jaanam Samjha Karo” and his Judwaa hits “Oonchi Hai Building” and “Tan Tana Tan” was unveiled on social media for his 57th birthday on November 2. In the video, the singercomposer also crooned a rendition of “Moh Moh Ke Dhage”, a song close to his heart.

Manish hosts all-girls night for Kaykasshan

Shilpa and Shamita Shetty, Ekta Kapoor, Manyata Dutt and jewellery designer Farah Khan Ali (Sussanne Khan’s sister) laughed, danced and clicked selfies at Manish Malhotra’s residence as they brought in actress-socialite Kaykasshan Patel’s birthday. The menu was organic and vegan treats with special cocktails. The party went on way beyond midnight. Also present at the bash were Anil Kapoor’s wife Sunita, singer Kanika Kapoor, socialite Nandita Mahtani, produceractress Divya Khosla Kumar and Salman Khan’s sister Arpita Khan Sharma.