Juhi Chawla recounts how Coronavirus pandemic cut short her trip to Austria, prompting hurried return to Mumbai with husband and son; informs daughter is in Uganda with her grandparents
Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 3, 2020)

Around this time of the year, Juhi Chawla is usually in Kolkata, cheering her Boys in Purple (team Knight Riders) from the stands while anxiously watching the scoreboard. But this IPL cricket season, the actress and franchise co-owner is locked down in her Mumbai home. “Unless the situation improves and travel restrictions around the world are lifted, we can’t expect matches to start,” she reasons.

Juhi’s Austrian family holiday with husband Jay Mehta and children Jahnavi and Arjun turned into an event straight out of a film as the Coronavirus scare spread across Europe. “Austria partially closed off its borders soon after we left. Ditto Switzerland. So, we returned to our London home where my in-laws joined us,” she recounts.

By then, India had started restricting incoming international flights and a lockdown-like situation seemed imminent. “So, we decided to fly back. Apna ghar, apna ghar hota hai aur apna desh, apna desh hota hai,” Juhi says emphatically, asserting that she didn’t want to be anywhere else but home during these trying times. “We approached the High Commission of India and they helped us reach Mumbai safely. All the racing and the dodging made it seem like we were shooting for a thriller.”

Upon her return to the city, the actress faced yet another challenge. “Some of our staff comes from outside and it quickly became apparent that they wouldn’t be able to continue reporting to work. So, we re-organised everything and shut off some of the rooms for better management of the rest. Thankfully, I have people in the kitchen, otherwise it would have been a disaster. We are functioning with skeletal staff and one in-house driver,” the actress informs.

Juhi’s businessman-husband is with her, along with son Arjun, while daughter Jahnavi is in Uganda with her grandparents. “She studies in the US and they have to attend online classes. Being in India would mean staying up all night for lectures. At least the time difference is not so huge there,” she explains.

Arjun, who will appear for his standard 10 exams this year, is continuing with his studies, too, in case the school suddenly decides to hold them. “He’s also watering the plants, now that the gardener can’t come in. There’s also a lot of fiddling around with gadgets,” she says, going on to enquire if the person on the other end of the line is using earphones or speaking directly into the handset. Sounding disappointed when told it’s the latter, Juhi says she’s trying to stay away from mobile phones as much as possible.

Meanwhile, with the family priests unable to come in, Jay and Juhi have started conducting the morning pooja themselves, beginning the day with prayers. “It’s calming; perhaps this is God’s way of bringing us closer together,” muses the actress, who has also started doing riyaaz again. “I was a dedicated student to begin with, but as life got busier, I gave up music. My teacher prodded me to start again and I have started taking online classes.”

She’s tuning out negative news so it doesn’t add to her anxiety, and is reveling in the positives instead. “It’s not so hot in Mumbai anymore. Normally, by this time, you couldn’t do without the air-conditioner. The skies are so clear that I can see the lights all the way to Cuffe Parade from my Malabar Hill apartment,” she exults, adding that she is having methi seeds, soaked overnight, every morning to pamper her tresses. Is it working? “If I come out of this lockdown with thick, lustrous hair, you’d know,” she chuckles.

Kavita Awaasthi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 22, 2020)

After a trip to Florence, Italy, last month, Juhi Chawla and her family flew to Austria, earlier this month, as her daughter, wanted to spend her spring break skiing. Right before they decided, Chawla asked her family if they should be travelling as many cases of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) were reported around the world. “But everyone insisted, so we landed in Zurich, Switzerland, on March 12,” she shares.

“After reaching Austria and skiing for a day, we learnt that Austria will be shutting the resorts by March 16 as they found a few people infected in the country. Meanwhile, some of Jay’s (Jay Mehta, Juhi’s husband) other friends joined us, so we decided to stay for two days and then leave. But the next day, while we were on the mountain, we heard that the resort would close that very day and if we don’t leave, we would be stuck there. So, we packed and left for Zurich as we couldn’t get any flights to London (UK),” says the actor.

They stayed the night in Zurich, flew to London the next day and hoped to stay there for a while. But a day later, they heard that India would be closing its borders too, so they had to either leave the UK in two days or stay there till March 31, when the situation would be reviewed.

Chawla says, “Once again, we were panicking as I am the only Indian national and the rest of my family has OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) cards. I have never seen this kind of scenario, where whichever country we left was shutting its borders. The last seven-eight days of my life have been crazy. We were just running from one place to the next. In the UK, we applied for visas to be fast tracked and the officials were kind and helpful. There were other family members and friends, too, who needed to get back to India. On the flight, we filled a form giving out details of the places we had travelled to in the past month. At the Mumbai airport, officials checked every form and as we had been to Europe, stamped us - Home Quarantine!”

They were later whisked off to a doctor, who explained to a group of similarly stamped people, how to conduct themselves at home over the next fortnight. Chawla is thankful they managed to return to India on time as things are serious back home.

Praising the government’s efforts to tackle this outbreak, she says, “What was clear was that our government is trying hard to help everyone and protect us as far as possible. Huge respect for all the officials on duty.”

The actress recently caught a match between Djokovic and Khachanov; Kabir Khan can’t wait for FIFA finals
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 12, 2018)

Juhi Chawla’s latest London vacation, which began last week, is all about trying out new things. On Monday, the actress watched the Wimbledon match between Novak Djokovic and Karen Khachanov. “I have to thank my daughter Jhanvi for that. She and my sister-in-law Radha are tennis fans and one of my daughter’s favourite things to do on a vacation is to either play the sport or read. Jay (Mehta, husband) arranged amazing passes for this match and I was excited because I’ve watched a bit of it on TV and it looked so glamorous,” Juhi beams.

She was fascinated by the rules to be followed while watching the match. “You can’t enter the premises in distressed jeans or keds, unless they are fashionable, oversized hats and so on. It took us some time to dress for the event,” she informs, adding, “We had a four-course meal at the Wimbledon club and joined thousands of fans to watch the match after that.”

Speaking of filmi sports enthusiasts, Kabir Khan is in Russia with wife Mini Mathur and kids Vivaan and Sairah to catch the final leg of the FIFA World Cup. “The atmosphere here is great. Fans from all over the world are celebrating the game. It’s football madness everywhere and I can’t wait to see the finals. I have rooted for Brazil ever since I was a child. They aren’t in the final four so I’m waiting for the England-France final. It’s time to celebrate the new order in the football world,” Kabir told Mirror.

Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; April 21, 2018)

"Gujarat ni bahu' Juhi Chawla is set to make her debut in the language with an adaptation of Priyanka Chopra’s award-winning Marathi production, Ventilator (2016). The casting implies that Chawla will feature alongside Jackie Shroff, who had hopped aboard the Gujarati film earlier this year. “It is wonderful to be working with Jaggu dada. He is the most chilled out co-star ever,” Chawla tells mid-day, ahead of the film’s Ahmedabad schedule that kicks off tomorrow. She steps into the role of Dr Shroff, a character that was played by Boman Irani in the original.

Talking about her co-star, Chawla says, “[Jackie] is someone who is everyone’s friend. It’s been a long time since we worked together.” That she was being considered for the part by the producers was a news that Shroff broke to her. “I was thrilled because it’s my dream to work on at least one film in every Indian language. I have worked in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali and Punjabi films. Since I am married into a Gujarati family [wife to Jay Mehta], everyone calls me ‘Gujarat ni bahu’,” she smiles.

Rajesh Mapuskar, who helmed the original, will provide creative direction and guidance. The adaptation will be directed by Umang Vyas.