This week that year: Juhi Chawla

By Roshmila Bhattacharya | Updated: Nov 16, 2018

Thirteen is a lucky number for Juhi Chawla. It was on November 13 that she entered the world. This year, she brought in her birthday with family, some under-privileged kids among whom she distributed sweets, and a flood of memories. She recalled the first big bash she'd hosted a year after Mansoor Khan's directorial debut had turned Aamir Khan and her into the QSQT cuties. By then the former Miss India who'd waltzed into Wonderland without a definite plan, had realised that this was where she wanted to work. She invited her film family to her party at a Juhu five-star and was thrilled when the who's who of the frat turned up, including Amir, Mansoor and his producer-dad Nasir Hussain.

Aamir's name came up in many birthday scripts later. A few years later, when Juhi was bringing in her birthday quietly in her new Versova home, he drove up, bearing a gift, a bar of Cadbury chocolate. "That's it? Juhi asked and he laughed, "That's it!

Another birthday came along when the duo was filming a sequence for Ishq where Aamir chases Juhi into a warehouse. During lunch break, a cake was brought out and the birthday girl, all dressed up and smiling, cut it to a chorus of "Happy Birthday. Then, with a mischievous glint, Aamir reached out for a chunk of cake and slapped it on Juhi's perfectly made-up face. For a minute she stood there stupefied, then, as her pranking co-star took to his heels, she flew after him. "He was quick but I chased him all around Film City with Induji (director Indra Kumar) cheering me on, urging me not to give up. I finally caught Aamir and got my revenge by plastering his face with cake, she reveals.

Ishq was a couple of years in the making and by her next birthday, the two buddies were no longer on speaking terms. "We were filming in the same studio but this time when the cake was brought out, Aamir was not around. Uske bina mazaa nahin aa raha tha, so I went looking for him. He was in his vanity van, closeted in a meeting with Amol Palekar. I was scared to disturb them so after a while I went back and cut the cake without him, she recounts. It would be a few years before the problem was resolved with Juhi taking the initiative and making a call. "That's when I realised that he too had been wanting to make-up but believing I was mad with him, didn't approach me. The issue was trivial, and it felt good to be back to being friends, Juhi smiles.

Another Khan, who along with wife, Gauri, has always been around on her special day, sometimes joining her husband Jay Mehta and the family for a birthday dinner, is Shah Rukh. Any gifts? Juhi points out that they are just a formality that friends can do without. "But Shah Rukh did get me a tiny gold cross from Spain, she murmurs. Her most precious gift undoubtedly was a handmade card on an A4-size sheet, on which her kids, Jhanvi and Arjun, had listed out all of mamma's instructions, from "Don't eat junk to "No more TV, it's time to study!, accompanied by funny doodles and blurbs. "This was when they were younger and more excited about the occasion, she laughs good-naturedly, adding that she stuck their card on her bathroom mirror where it remained for the next few years till the ink faded. "It's the first thing I'd see every morning.

Another sparkling memory is associated with Ajay Devgn's Son of Sardaar which released on November 13, 2012. "It was Diwali, my birthday and I had a film opening on the day. That made it special! she exults.

She remembers other birthdays on the sets, one which she brought in with Rishi Kapoorand a five-kg cake while shooting a song with PL Raj. "This year too, on my birthday, Chintuji messaged from the US. We were to start a delightful, heartwarming film in Delhi in October. But then he wasn't feeling well and had to fly out to the US for treatment. I told him to get well soon and come home so we could start our film.