English Vinglish Premiere: A Private ‘Laddoo’ Affair!

Madhuri Dixit with husband Dr. Sriram Nene, Sridevi and director Gauri Shinde at the premiere of 'English Vinglish' in Mumbai
Madhuri Dixit with husband Dr. Sriram Nene, Sridevi and director Gauri Shinde at the premiere of 'English Vinglish' in Mumbai
Madhuri Dixit with husband Dr. Sriram Nene, Sridevi and director Gauri Shinde at the premiere of ‘English Vinglish’ in Mumbai

Everyone at the premiere of Gauri Shinde’s English Vinglish was gifted a box of laddoos. Some stars (we won’t name them) were even seen secretly tucking into the yummy box.

After Barfi it’s Laddoo. Looks like the mithai business in India never had it so good. Just a few weeks back Anurag Basu’s film Barfi saw an escalation in the popularity of the sweetmeat by the name.

Now it’s laddoos. If you’ve seen Sridevi’s comeback film she specializes in making laddoos for not just family and friends but also for weddings and other happy occasions. Laddoos were ordered from a famous confectionary (Tiwari’s) in Mumbai for the premiere and the producer R Balki’s standing instruction to his staff and producers Eros Entertainment at the premiere was, “No one goes home without a dabba.”

Apparently there was so much of the laddoo during the shooting both in India and the US that everyone got addicted to the sweet, including the super-svelte Sridevi.

Laughs Balki, “We are all hopelessly addicted to laddoos. During shooting there was just no getting away from it. We all ended up popping the sinfully rich stuff left right and centre. We will now have to collectively enter a laddoo rehabilitation centre.”

Jokes aside, the premiere of Gauri Shinde’s debut film at the PVR Oberoi Mall at Goregaon saw quite a turn-out. Bipasha Basu, Vidya Balan, Kangna Ranaut came to the event alone. Sonakshi Sinha made an appearance with her mother (her father is still largely home-bound after surgery). (SEE PHOTOS)

Anil Kapoor showed up with his entire family minus daughter Sonam who was shooting far away in Varanasi. And the Bachchans, Amitabh and Jaya came to be part of their most faithful producer Balki’s wife’s moment of triumph although they had viewed the entire film earlier.

In fact the Big B was indescribably moved by the opening credit-line of English Vinglish: “100 Years Of Indian Cinema… 70 Years Of Amitabh Bachchan.”

“I am not worthy of this,” he was heard mumbling.

Sridevi glowed with confidence and couldn’t stop telling all the guests how her comeback was possible only because of her husband.

Says a guest from the venue, “Sri has never been so unabashed. She even indulged in some PDA with Boney which we thought was very sweet. This was also the first time that her daughters were watching her on the large screen. More than the other guests Sri was nervous about her daughters’ reaction. When they loved what they saw of their mom, Sri breathed a sigh of relief.”

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Subhash K Jha

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