Salman Khan is thrilled that he can now celebrate his birthday every year with his newly- born niece. His youngest sister Arpita gave birth to Ayat on December 27 which is Salman’s birthday.
This isn’t the only Bollywood pair from one family to share their birthday. India’s first and biggest superstar Rajesh Khanna was born on the same day as his daughter Twinkle Khanna.
December 29, used to be the day of great bustle at Aashirwaad, the iconic Khanna residence, now alas, no more. But poor Twinkle’s birthdays during her early years were totally eclipsed by the mass hysteria that India’s Most Wanted superstar generated on his birthday. Rather than a blessing, Twinkle’s twinning with her Dad’s birthday was a curse in disguise, as she would never get the attention on her special day that she thought she deserved.
Living in the shadow of such humongous stardom is not easy for the family. Though on his birthday every year Shah Rukh Khan makes it a point to bring out his son to wave to the crowds with him, I don’t think AbRam is comfortable with the attention. Luckily his birthday doesn’t fall on the same day as his superstar father’s. Imagine being a side attraction on your own birthday!
Rajesh Khanna, of course, loved every bit of the attention. I don’t think he ever felt of how eclipsed his daughter’s birthday became, let alone feel worried about. He was a constant attention seeker and liked to be the cynosure of all eyes all the time. He won a slew of popular awards in his heydays—and let me add that he deserved every one of them. And when he didn’t win any award he refused to attend the awards functions.
Almost his entire career of blockbusters was strewn with film co-starring his two favourite heroines Mumtaz and Sharmila Tagore. These two gorgeous talented women were with him in almost all the famous Rajesh Khanna starrers. Apparently he tried to play up one against the other to get optimum attention from both the lovely ladies.
So is it a blessing to be born on the same day as a superstar? Ayat will soon know.