Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; December 14, 2019)

Hollywood couple, Michael Douglas and wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, was in the city on Thursday. The two came over to meet their friend, filmmaker Shailendra Singh, who Michael has known for the past 15 years. While Michael has been to Mumbai before, this was Catherine’s first visit to the city, and the trio made the most of their time together.

The couple, who landed in India around five days ago, also spent some time in Udaipur before heading for Mumbai. Shailendra took them for a quick tour of South Mumbai before treating them to an evening of soulful Sufi music at his home with his family. When asked about the couple’s hush-hush visit to Mumbai, Shailendra told Bombay Times, “Michael and I have been friends for the past 15 years after a common friend introduced us. We were supposed to collaborate on a film called Racing The Monsoon, which was set in India, but that didn’t work out. However, we kept in touch as we are like-minded and there’s this banter that we share. If you hear us talk, you’ll feel there’s going to be a fight anytime (laughs!). They are global artistes and their energy and outlook towards life is inspirational. It’s fascinating to see how unpretentious they are.”

The filmmaker took them around for some Mumbai Darshan. “Michael has been here before, but this was Catherine’s first visit to Mumbai. We went to Gateway Of India, Dhobi Ghat and the highlight was the Babulnath temple. The priests allowed us to do the aarti and because of Michael and Catherine, I got to know about the history of the temple,” he said.

The Hollywood couple went to Shailendra’s home in the evening for some home-cooked food and live Sufi music. “I flew my favourite singer and santoor player from Jaipur to perform for them. We wanted to keep it quiet and personal and that’s how it was. Catherine loves the Bollywood film Om Shanti Om (Farah Khan’s movie), so she spoke about that as well. It was a perfect family time for us.”