Big B 70: A birthday bash to remember

Mumbai, Oct 11: The Indian film industry's biggest stars like Dilip Kumar, Yash Chopra, Shah Rukh Khan and to southern superstar Rajinikanth to high profile politicians like Praful Patel flocked to the big bash organised here Wednesday to usher in the living legend Amitabh Bachchan's 70th birthday. The red carpet was rolled out for as many as 800 guests at the Reliance Media Work, Film City, Goregaon. Amitabh, dressed in a black velvet outfit, came with his family -- wife Jaya Bachchan, son Abhishek, daughter Shweta, daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai -- and he too walked the red carpet with live orchestra playing hit numbers from his films. Big B, who turns 70 Thursday, told media, "Thanks for coming", while Aishwarya, flaunting a cream long dress with golden detailed work all over, told reporters, "We are so happy that we are all here today celebrating his birthday. Thank you so much." If yesteryear veterans like Hema Malini, Saira Banu, Waheeda Rehman, Vinod Khanna, Prem Chopra, Kader Khan, Pran, Zeenat Aman, Jeetendra and Asha Parekh came to wish Big B, his co-star of many films like "Deewar" Shashi Kumar was wheeled in to join the revelries. Also Neetu and Rishi Kapoor, who have worked with Big B, were seen walking the red carpet. Aishwarya and Abhishek played a perfect host and escorted 89-year old legend Dilip Kumar inside the venue. Big B's one time competitor Vinod Khanna, who rarely speaks to the media, was in a generous mood and said: "I wish him all the happiness and good luck." From the current lot stars like Deepika Padukone, Parineeti Chopra, Anurag Kashyap and his wife Kalki Koechlin, Sonakshi Sinha, Vidya Balan, John Abraham and Arshad Warsi came to wish Big B. Also Tabu, Madhuri Dixit with her husband Sriram Nene, Mahima Chaudhary, Abbas Mastan, Sudhir Mishra, Anil Kapoor, Subhash Ghai, Alka Yagnik, Boman Irani, R Madhavan, Ameesha Patel, Ajay Devgn-Kajol, Sridevi, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Divya Dutta, Ashutosh Gowariker, Juhi Chawla, Preity Zinta, Vipul shah, Rana Daggubati and Urmila Matondker among others were there. Shabana Azmi called him an "iconic figure" and added: "I got an opportunity to work with him. He is my favourite." Madhuri wished him all the "happiness and success", while Juhi said: "I respect him, admire him and I had a great time working with him." Vidya, who played his mom in "Paa", said that "he is an inspiration not only for actors but for everyone". From down south, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Ram Charan Teja were present among othersIf glamour was at its high, the big names from political corridor including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Praful Patel, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav gathered here to wish Big B.