Alia Bhatt, who is a year older today on March 15, has put all celebration on hold, after her close friend Ayan Mukerji’s father, the former actor Deb Mukherjee passed away on March 14.
Leaning into the tragedy, a very close friend of Ranbir and Alia told me, “Alia and Ranbir are both very close to Ayan. Ranbir is closer. He and Ayan are best friends for years now. Alia became close to Ayan after she married Ranbir. They are now very close to one another. Ayan dotes on Raha and Raha cannot get enough of her ‘Ayan Uncle’. When Ayan’s dad passed away just hours before Alia’s birthday, the couple called off the celebration they had planned with family and close friends for Alia’s birthday in Alibaug.”
The close friend draws an interesting parallel between this crisis and the one when Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi passed away. “Kareena was petrified that her birthday on September 21 would coincide with her prospective father-in-law Nawab Pataudi’s death. He died a day after her birthday. Alia’s birthday too would have been affected each year had Ayan’s father passed away a few hours later.”
