Actor-couple Jay Bhanushali and Mahhi Vij’s daughter, Tara Bhanushali, turned four recently. And she got a feature on New York’s Times Square billboard as a birthday gift from a fan! The gesture left dad, Jay, overwhelmed. “I expected something like this for myself, not my daughter!” he laughs.

Tara’s video that played on the billboard has gone viral since. “Even I couldn’t have planned for such a beautiful gift for my daughter,” admits Jay, adding, “I’m really happy that my baby is so blessed!”

The 38-year-old actor tells us that he thought it was a prank when one of his fans from the US reached out to him at first. “One fan expressed the desire to do something special for her birthday and sought our permission. We were confused about it but agreed. Later, we received a message saying that the fan had booked time slots in Times Square where her videos would play every hour. We didn’t take it seriously; we thought it might be a prank! But when we saw the videos, we were so surprised, it made us emotional,” recounts Jay, who regrets missing Tara’s reaction on the videos as he is currently shooting in Gujarat.

“I don’t know if she realizes [right now] how big this is. She is just four and doesn’t understand what being on the Billboard means,” adds the Hate Story 2 (2014) actor.

Given that Tara enjoys massive popularity on social media and her reels often go viral, Jay tries his best to make his daughter understand the “meaning and responsibility” of having such a large fan following. 

“I tell her that they are her well-wishers. At times, one might take having fans for granted, but having well-wishers is special. I’ve even told her that she has a bigger fan following than her father, and I’m super proud of that,” he ends.