Sahara India's Subroto Roy's grand daughter ceremony

Jyothi Prabhakar     If we could call a party ‘largescale’, this has to be it – the party hosted by Sahara’s head, Sahara India Pariwar’s chief guardian, Subrata Roy, on the occasion of his granddaughter, Roshna’s annaprashan, in Delhi. The venue looked filmi, and the guests just kept pouring in even after well past midnight. There were cricketers, politicians, Bollywood stars, friends, and family – all of who came to wish Richa and Sushanto, and of course, Roshna, who got cuddled innumerable times that night.     The evening started with Sapna Mukherjee singing a bhajan,Jai Govinda Jai Gopala, and south star Nagarjunawas one of the first to arrive. Then we spotted Dia Mirza, touching Swapna Roy’s feet. Sachin Tendulkarcame soon after,and was warmly hugged by Saharasri. And then, one after the other, Team India members began to arrive. Subtleties of relationships were revealed as we saw the cricketers, almost part of the parivar, totally chill. Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni walked in, closely followed by Virat Kohli and Yuvraj. They were escorted to the table where Sachin was sitting with the unassuming duo of Abbasand Mustan. But as the boisterous youngsters joshed about,Sachin quietly got up and left. Kohli and Yuvraj stuck to each other through the night, joking, laughing,shouting,whistling… Raina showed us all he could sing well,when,cajoled bySonu Nigam, who had by then taken the stage, sang Mere Sapnon Ki Rani Kab Aayegi Tu.     Not to be left behind, Virat took the mike to sing Bachna Aye Haseenon – and boy, did he hold a perfect tune and pitch! Sonu remarked, “Haath mein bat hai, lekin mike bhi ho sakta tha.” Sonu also brought in a poignant moment as he said, “It’s not even a month, since I got a huge shock. Abhi tayyar nahi hua hoon aise stage pe chadh ke gaane ke liye, lekin koshish kar raha hoon,” and promptly went ahead to give a stunning performance of Just Chill, making the cricketers whistle, dance, ask for an encore and clap.     Meanwhile, the politicians and the stars had begun to arrive – through the evening, there were over 150 politicians and 60 senior IAS, IPS and IRS officers who made their presence felt. Lalu Prasad came in with Delhi’s Shahi Imam, and created quite a buzz, whereas Mulayam Singh walked in quietly and took a seat. Sharad Yadav was led three tables away from Lalu and seated. Nitin Gadkari and Arun Jaitley exchanged notes, and Shahnawaz Hussain joined in. Delhi CM, Sheila Dikshit came in, and was taken around by Saharasri himself. When Hrithik walked in, many mobiles made a sudden appearance to record the moment. He was followed by Anil Kapoor and Abhishek Bachchan, who was also accompanied by his mother, Jaya. All the three men wore a black and white combination, with Anil dressing desi, surprisingly. A while later, Sridevi and Boney Kapoor also walked in.     Dinner was a classy affair, set outdoors to a black and silver theme, the lawn done up in candles. But just at that moment, the rain gods decided to join in the fun, and a sudden squall scattered the flowers and candles went out, and it began to rain. Kumkum Roy was very concerned about this, but the enterprising caterers quickly moved everything indoors, which actually made the scene look all the more comfy. Even the guests appreciated the fact that they could eat right where they were seated, watching Sonu sing.     It was quite late in the night by the time the family members could get a breather and sit together for having a bite. That was when we asked Saharasri why he threw this party. “I have often been accused of neglecting Delhi by my friends here. Every celebration we’ve had has either been in Lucknow or Mumbai. I was waiting for an opportunity. Annaprashan has always been big for us, plus this is the first child of my eldest, and so, we decided to throw a party in Delhi,” he said. But the rain… “It is considered auspicious, that’s the consolation,” he added, before being called away to welcome Sunil Gavaskar. Sushanto simply told us, “I’m happy,” as Richa, his wife nodded in agreement. That was when we enquired after Roshna… she had gone to sleep ages ago, we were told. Swapna and Subrata Roy Richa and Sushanto Roy with baby Roshna, who was the cynosure of all eyes. See a video of the celebrities who came for this event, using Alive Chandni and Smanto R Roy. Smanto was busy looking after the guests right till the end JB Roy with wife, Moushumi Kumkum Roy Choudhury Shivanka and Karan Lakshmi Rai and Trisha Neogi Raj Babbar Arindam Chaudhuri with Abhijit Sarkar The Indian men’s hockey team came in early, and took a table The women’s hockey team had great fun all through the evening Sachin Tendulkar with Michael Clarke and Steve Smith Sunil Gavaskar MS Dhoni (R) told Kohli to take a seat, but Kohli had other things on his mind whereas Raina found his friends Ashish Nehra Yuvraj and Pragyan Ojha (C), along with Raina clapped in rhythm to Sonu’s performance Aarti and Virender Sehwag. Aarti’s bright lipstick shone in the dark A happy Shikhar Dhawan waved away his injury saying, “Hota hai” Suresh Raina with Ashok Dinda enjoyed Sonu Nigam’s performance. Raina also sang Ravindra Jadeja (R) whistled when Sonu sang Just Chill Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh joked and laughed R Ashwin was welcomed by Saharasri Chiranjeevi with Saharasri Pratibha Patil Digvijay Singh Sapna Mukherjee sang a bhajan first Sonu Nigam’s performance was awesome Vivek Oberoi Anil Kapoor Abhishek Bachchan Hrithik Roshan L-R) Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Shahnawaz Hussain chatted with each other for a long time Kamla Advani and daughter, Pratibha Meira Kumar Mulayam Singh Yadav Swapna Roy with Sanjay Khan Sheila Dikshit Lalu Prasad with Delhi’s Shahi Imam, Syed Ahmed Bukhari Dia Mirza Jaya Bachchan and Sridevi catch up Prosenjit Nagarjuna Azharuddin and Boney Kapoor Jaya Prada Diana Hayden Bharat and Esha with Hema Malini Meera and Muzaffar Ali Neha Dhupia Maneka Gandhi Farooq Abdullah Ravi Shankar Prasad Baba Ramdev poses with Sushanto and Roshna Sushma Swaraj Vijay Goel Vijay Mallya Praful Patel CP Thakur Rajiv Pratap Rudy Sharad Yadav Uma Bharti Subodh Kant Sahay Tariq Anwar Markandey Katju Jaffer Sharief Neelam Pratap Rudy Ram Jethmalani Arjun Munda