Friday, July 17, 2009
I was extremely happy to have Irfan Pathan as my guest on the show along with my old pal Shilpa Shetty. What struck me most is that time has not made a dent on the evergreen Shilpa. She is remarkably well maintained and as effervescent as always. Irfan Pathan is casual and unassuming and it was a pleasure to interact with him. He did not wear any protective guards while answering personal questions such as his love interest and intention of marrying her soon. I believe that there is some resistance in his orthodox family because of religion. My father acted in a film called ‘Shershah Suri’. He told me that when Rani Karmavati of Chittorgarh was surrounded by enemies she asked her rakhi-brother, the Mughal emperor Humayun to defend her and he did so at the loss of his own kingdom. We have such a great heritage of love and brother-hood; I do not know how our times have been so polluted with inter-religion hatred.
Irfan displayed honesty and is so typical of our modern youth that they are casual yet straight-forward. Shilpa Shetty does not belong to this generation, yet she’s a very honest and down to earth girl too. I have known Shilpa and family for long. Her struggle has been long and now she has attained stardom due to her show being such a hit in London. Her good friend has gifted her a share in the Rajasthan Royals IPL team for which Irfan’s brother Yusuf plays. The Pathan brothers are amazing players.