Shah Rukh Khan greets fans on his 57th birthday at midnight
Mumbai (PTI): Kicking off his 57th birthday celebrations, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan greeted scores of admirers stationed outside his Bandra home last night.
After a no-show last year, the actor revived his annual ritual of meeting fans from the balcony of his sea-facing bungalow 'Mannat', one of the landmarks of Mumbai.
Dressed in a black T-shirt and denims, Shah Rukh waved, blew kisses and spread his arms in his signature pose to the hundreds of people waiting to catch a glimpse of their favourite star. He was accompanied by his youngest child AbRam.
The road leading up to the star's house was chock-a-block with fans, who were singing birthday songs for their idol, flashing torchlight from their smartphones.
Sudhir Kothari, an ardent Shah Rukh fan, was among one of the many outside Mannat to see his hero. He flew in from Chennai to the city on Tuesday.
"He came on the balcony around 12.10-12.15 am and was there for about 15 minutes. He was expressing gratitude to all of us. He did his signature pose and also clicked a selfie. We come to relive this moment every year. It is special for us," Sudhir, 34, founder of SRK Chennai fan club, told PTI.
The actor will be spending the day with family, friends and fans.
"In 2019, there was a huge fan meet-and-greet event, where he interacted with them, danced and sang songs, etc. It will be a bigger celebration with fans this year. He will be interacting with fans, who are all flying down from across the country and world," a Shah Rukh aide had previously told PTI.
"Besides this, there is nothing big planned. He will be spending the day with his family and friends," he had said.
The actor celebrated a quiet birthday last year, which came just days after his eldest child Aryan Khan was released on bail on October 30, 2021 in an alleged drug case. Aryan, 24, was released after spending more than three weeks in jail following his arrest in a Narcotics Control Bureau raid on a cruise ship off the city coast.
In 2020, Shah Rukh had promised "a bigger and better party" on his next birthday. The actor, who was then in Dubai to support his team Kolkata Knight Riders at the Indian Premier League, had also urged admirers to not gather outside his bungalow on his birthday in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To celebrate his 57th birthday, production banner Yash Raj Films on Wednesday re-released his iconic 1995 romantic-drama "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" across the country.
Shah Rukh, whose last full-fledged screen appearance was 2018's "Zero", has three film releases lined up for next year. There is the high-octane spy thriller "Pathaan" -- whose teaser will be unveiled virtually today -- followed by "Jawan", a pan-India movie helmed by Atlee, and Rajkumar Hirani's "Dunki".
#WATCH | Mumbai: Actor Shah Rukh Khan & his son AbRam wave at the fans who gathered outside his residence 'Mannat' in large numbers to catch a glimpse of him, on Shah Rukh Khan's 57th birthday. pic.twitter.com/8uDi9X0ETQ
— ANI (@ANI) November 1, 2022
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Wayanad LS bypoll: Priyanka crosses lead achieved by Rahul in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Saturday comfortably cruising towards her maiden electoral win from Wayanad in Kerala, as she surpassed the lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year with party leaders and ally IUML predicting a big win for her amid the counting trends.
The Congress-led UDF's candidate from this hill constituency, Priyanka, extended her lead by over 3.8 lakh votes after five hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, according to the Election Commission.
Reacting to the lead achieved by Priyanka, Congress' ally Indian Union Muslim League and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said she would get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and will win by a record margin.
"An amazing first trend on counting day is the massive early lead for our leader @priyankagandhi ji in Wayanad, Kerala, by-election. People of Wayanad are surely going to record in victory margins today and Priyanka ji will make Parliamentary debut with a grand win," Reddy said in a post on 'X'.
IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.
A similar view was expressed by IUML's national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.
On the other hand, BJP leader Anil K Antony, earlier in the day, had claimed that though Priyanka has achieved a good lead, her victory margin would be less than what Rahul got in the 2024 and 2019 LS polls in the hill constituency.
According to the latest EC figures, Priyanka had a lead of 3,82,975 with 5,78,526 votes. LDF's Sathyan Mokeri was behind her with 1,95,551 votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1,04,947 votes.
Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI's Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year. In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770 votes.
After winning from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh as well, in this year's polls, Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, and the party nominated his sister Priyanka, paving the way for her electoral debut.
The bypoll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first.
The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13.
Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, ruling CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas.
