When there is the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, it remains a special occasion throughout the country, especially, in the tinsel town of Mumbai with the millions and millions of fans of various actors waiting to see how their stars would be celebrating the arrival of the Lord Ganesha on the earth in their own style. From Salman Khan holding a special puja at home to Shah Rukh Khan holding puja at his own residence as well as gracing the family puja at the Ambani’s, this year too there has been no exception in the way the stars decided to greet the ‘Elephant God’s visit to the earth. Filling the atmosphere with that of grandeur, love and festivity, the stars decided to give their fans a sneak peek into how they embrace the festive spirit and the traditions of the culture every year this time.

The ‘Tiger’ Performs ‘Aarti’ with Niece

In spite of remaining busy throughout the year, it is a well-known fact that the ‘Tiger’ Khan of the Hindi movie industry is a strictly family man in his personal life. That he is strongly committed to giving time to his family is not any new thing, given that he never fails to miss any opportunity of being with his family on special occasions, no matter how much work he would be having at hand. This time also a video shared on the social media account of ‘Instagram’ of the actor showed him taking part in the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations that was being held at his home with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. The video showed our ‘Dabangg’ man of the Hindi move industry carrying his niece Ayat, his sister Arpita Khan Sharma and Aayush Sharma’s daughter on her shoulder while holding a steel plate tightly in his hands that was decorated with a lamp, some sweets to be offered to the Lord Ganesha and some flowers. He was seen performing the ‘aarti’ with his niece Ayat joining in too, though the little girl seemed to be cutely befuddled with, what was unfolding right in front of her. Other members from the Khan family joined in too, such as her another sister Anita Agnihotri and her husband Atul Agnihotri, Salman Khan’s brother Suhail Kan and his younger son and obviously, Salim Khan, Salma Khan and Helen. For the uninitiated, Salim Khan is the father of Salman Khan while Salma Khan is his mother. Helen happens to be the second wife of Salim Khan. The aged Khan couple of Salim and Salma Khan were spotted performing the ‘mangal aarti’ together with Salim Khan’s second wife Helen participating in too. Several other celebrities also found their names in the guest list. These include Suniel Shetty, Lulia Vantur, Varun Dhawan and his fashion designer wife Natasha Dalal. A starry night on the rain-soaked days of Ganesh Chaturthi indeed!!

The ‘Jawan Pathaan’ Graces the Ambani’s Puja

All eyes were set on how one of the most important Ganesh Chaturthi pujas of Mumbai unfolds. It has always been a wonder as to how the Ganesh Chaturthi puja at the residence of Mukesh and Nita Ambani takes place with much aplomb and grandeur with big names such as actor Amitabh Bachchan to the cricketer Hardik Pandya gracing the occasion. This time it was Shah Rukh Khan, who has been sharing a warm relationship with the Ambani family for a long. On Tuesday, the 20^th of September, Shah Rukh Khan took to his social media account of ‘X’ (formerly known as the ’Twitter’) to express his excitement and enthusiasm regarding the celebration of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The visibly joyous actor wrote on his wall, “Welcome home Ganpati Bappa Ji. Wishing you and your family a wonderful day honouring Lord Ganesha. May Lord Ganesha bless all of us with happiness, wisdom, good health and lots of Modak to eat,” and posted a picture of a beautifully crafted idol of the Lord Ganesha that he and his family had bought home to worship. In the evening, the ‘Zinda Banda’ of the Hindi movie industry along with his wife Gauri Chibber Khan and his youngest son AbRam Khan. Following the grand entry of Shah Rukh Khan decked in a shiny Pathani suit, there was the glamour queen Deepika Padukone, who was looking heavenly in an orange sari. She was seen spending a gala moment with the Khan family and at times even settling the hair of AbRam Khan with her own hands, who would seldom keep it so.

The most momentous part of the occasion was when Nita Ambani came rushing towards Shah Rukh Khan and gave him a warm hug alongside a warm welcome, just like some excited fan would do on seeing their favourite ‘Common Man’ making a grand entry in front of them. This possibly could be because of the two grand successes that Shah Rukh Khan had witnessed this year, one with his ‘Pathaan’ in the month of January, followed and surpassed by his recently released ‘Jawan’ in the month of September (8^th September) in this year. Though the gesture that was displayed by Nita Ambani was deemed to be childish by a few, still it looks normal to several of the fans of Shah Rukh Khan, him being the ‘Dilo Ka Baadshaah’ (Emperor of the Hearts) of each and every one of his fans, who remain smitten with him and his artistic prowess.

However, the spirit of enjoyment was overshadowed by some controversy, when a video of the ‘King Khan’ of the Hindi movie industry was spotted offering his prayers to the idol of Ganesh was uploaded on the social media account ‘Instagram’ by the name ‘Viral Bhayani’. The video invited some religious slurs that were hurled at Shah Rukh Khan for taking part in the traditions of another festival. Little do the trolls realize that Shah Rukh Khan is a ‘National Integration of India’, who cannot be limited by the barriers of any culture or religion in India. Still, whatever be it, the mere presence of Shah Rukh Khan is enough to create a ‘chaar chaand’ moment, wherever he goes or, whatever he does.

Thus, the festive spirit that could be witnessed in the celebration of the Ganesh puja at the residences of the big brothers of the Hindi movie industry shows how gladly everybody would come to be a part of the traditions and culture of the country in spite of the differences in religion that they would be having. This is a true representation of the concept of ‘unity in diversity’ that has always remained the unique selling point of our country as well as our film industry. Thus, as we finish reading the article, we too pledge to delve deep into the festivity of the Ganesh puja and raise a ‘modak’ to celebrate the concept of ‘unity in diversity’ in this nation.