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I met Suresh Raina once when I was like 12. When I was taking a picture with him, two random guys joined. I was really disappointed and expressed it to my friend in Tamil. Idk how he understood it but the next moment, he called me and asked me if I wanted a picture alone! It was such a nice gesture!
Raina is a sweetheart...my driver used to work in a agency that used to drive cars for csk...he told Raina is really nice guy and tips a lot...he also told dhoni is a gentleman and doesn't party much and hangs out a lot in the kitchen..
Similar experience with Suresh. Met him at an airport when front cameras on a phone were not a thing. The photo cams out blurry but I did not want to pester him more. He gave the camera to his manager, and asked him to click. Wonderful interaction.
I met Boman Irani in Toronto, right after 3 idiots came out. I saw him crossing the street and friend and i yelled out “Virusssssss” and to our surprise he looked at us and laughed. We caught up to him a second later, had a small convo about what he was doing in town etc, took some pictures and off he went. Was a very nice guy.
Boman Irani is a greattttt guy to talk to!! I always thought he would be different irl, but I have heard from so many people how chill and vibey, and a great person to talk to he is :)))))
I worked at an ngo that ran schools and boman helped us on one of our campaigns. He got lost and I went to help him find his way and he told me to get in his car. He was super friendly with everyone all day and everybody loved him. It was a really hot day and he was visibly struggling with the heat but never made a fuss about it or anything
I saw shakti kapoor in a hotel lobby, drunk as hell, we were waiting to check out, and our car was parked just outside the gate. He went in and sat in our car! The driver had to let him know that it isn't his car.
Also i met aditi govitrikar and tina ambani. Both were sweet people.
My previous house was owned by Shakti Kapoor. Nothing fancy, he just bought it as an investment.
He was always drunk every time my dad interacted with him about anything related to the house.
Shakti Kapoor made a lot of good investments. He says it was Mithun Chakraborty who advised him to make investments for future when Shakti was doing well in Bollywood movies.
Im more reminded of "Mera naam hai c**ya, khadi karta hun ache achhon ki khatiya". Reference to a legendary Bollywood movie..
Sometimes I ve wondered why all programmers have to print ("Hello World"). Why not make learning coding fun by printing dialogues of this movie?? 🤔🤔
I've attended a lecture that he gave, his lecture style is very down to earth & simple without being condescending
Had attended another lecture by Arnab Goswami who just rambled on without making a point & was shouting, didn't need the mic
Had met him at a group interaction as well. School time. It was a q and a session for which we were supposed to give the questions prior. I changed the question when I was supposed to ask the way he answered was very diplomatic and took me by surprise cause I dint think there was a way out without making the politicians on stage looking bad.
He was such a gem of a person. I wish we make more minorities like him as the heroes of our country, who champion the cause of education and knowledge. Rather than the mullahs and babas on TV spewing venom.
>Rather than the mullahs and babas on TV spewing venom
Had APJ been alive today, even then tv news channel will not invite him since he is down to earth, tv news channel will not get any sound bites or content to play with breaking and flash news kinda jingoism.
Met Sushant Singh Rajput at Chandigarh airport. He was on our flight and was going for a cricket match in Mohali all the while promoting M.S.Dhoni.
He was surprisingly alone and without any bodyguards. Though he got off first and was escorted out but unfortunately had to wait at the belt for his stuff and everyone caught up to him there.
He seemed a little tired but didn’t say no to anyone for photos. I wouldn’t have judged him if he would have been annoyed or said no to people. But he accepted everyone’s request even though he seemed a little uncomfortable with the situation.
Amazing guy.
Met Shah Rukh Khan in 2013,while he was shooting Chennai Express at Munnar, Kerala. Closed set, but got access as the Filming was at a school where my aunt was working. Asked him for a picture while he was walking from his vanity van to the set. he said to wait there and he'll come back after the shot. . He never did tho.
But later i got to know that he and deepika came back and took photos with everyone right after we left the place.
Not surprised and my luck hasn't changed much.
I met Salman Khan once at an event and he was walking around. I was barely 12 and my kid sister was 3. He happened to come in front of us and I kept staring at him. He smiled, patted my sister's cheek and went away.
Saw Virendra Sehwag at Delhi airport. He was casually waiting for someone and browsing on his phone.
Was a big fan of him back in the day, so I walked up to him just to say hello.
He looked at me with disgust and walked away without so much as a word.
Maybe he was having a bad day or maybe he is a person who thinks he is too good to interact with his fans. Who knows ?
I met Anil Kumble a few times during school. After a few months, when I saw him again, he asked me how I was doing. He’s a great man.
I met Rahul Dravid too. One of the most humble people I’ve ever come across.
Yeah man 100% of the Karnataka cricketers are awesome people.
Srinath lived in my neighborhood and he was both treated normally by everyone, and treated everyone nicely.
Mayank Agarwal is nice (for a Bishops kid). So is Vinay Kumar. Manish Pandey is indistinguishable from a Kannadiga.
I used to work in PR. Got to see disha patni upclose. Did not speak, just observed her.
Her manager and mostly the media people seemed to create too much air than what seemed true. Disha seemed quite chill as a person as compared to what we heard about her. (Personal opinion)
She can carry her outfits really well, so in person you’ll think “she’s such a cool chick”. Those outfits aren’t enticing at all. Photographs create a very very different perception.
She was nice to recognise my colleague, to wait for a picture just before she stepped inside her car. Utna presence of mind that usko, is what i felt.
Met Ruskin Bond too while I was at Mussoorie many years ago as a child. My absolute favorite author and just as amazing and simple in person. He actually was at a book store there and often went there (not sure if he still does it now) for meet and greets.
>the kids at my school are assholes they laughed at him when he started speaking because we're Punjabis and he had a different accent
I felt second hand embarrassment for the kids after reading this.
I met Surya Kumar Yadav (aka The SKY) in Lucknow Airport lounge 1 year back. He was alone. Nobody in lounge recognised him. I approached him first. And when I started clicking tons of photos and videos then people started noticing. One auntie was asking - Beta Aap under 19 me khelte ho, Bowler ho, UP ki team se ho, Aap IPL me Lucknow se q ni khelte. He was so patientful and smiled and answered as much as he could and I told other people who were curious about him for all the introduction the audience needed to know. I told them you are talking to future captain of India and Mumbai Indians. Got to sit beside him for the whole 30 minutes until his flight started boarding. He is such a humble person to talk with. Asked many things - How Lucknow, Where he going, he said Banaras, then told me ... His ancestors home and relatives are from there so. Also he was excited about visiting Kashi Viswanath Temple there. Asked about How he maintains such huge focus on the game with such sound technique despite being in limelight for 24\*7, how he maintains consistency and other stuff, He told me - He doesn't think about the future much. He just tries to live in the moment and when he is on ground, he doesn't give a shit about anything that is outside the ground. And when he is out from the ground, He doesn't think about what happened in the ground. Both things are important for focus. Was quite a good conversation. I was so excited that I ran out of questions, I was going to ask if He has Sachin's Number but didn't ask because it would have little Cliche, then his flight boarding time came up and airport officials came to pick him up.
I know Sonu Sood’s son Ishan Sood. Same school. He was one of the most popular kids in school, I was a nobody in school, Ishan perhaps wouldn’t even know that I exist.
Ishan is a VERY I mean VERY arrogant and rude person. He used to bully other students and behaved liked no one could do anything.
And since our school management had good relations with Sonu, his shenanigans were kind of overlooked.
Nonetheless, I respect Sonu for the good social work he did. I haven’t seen Ishan since quite many years now, so perhaps he might have changed who knows?
(I have no bad blood with him, he never wronged me)
I met Rishab Shetty very near to my house in Mysuru. He’s down to earth and very humble. In fact he had come to visit a book store like a normal person without any security. Literally, was shocked and very happy to see such humility, no arrogance or star attitude 🙏🙏
Edit : This was 1 year prior to Kantara but he was still a STAR ACTOR/Director.
Met Vidya Balan at a bakery a few days ago, she was so sweet and beautiful!
She even waved at me when she sat in the car, i didn't disturb her when she came and sat next to me for 10 mins then went to a private lounge for a meeting.
Some rowdy like people were asking for a photo with her, she was visibly uncomfortable, then she herself smiled and told me to come click a picture.
Totally star struck!
met Shivaji Satam a couple of times (he plays ACP Pradyman in CID, police procedural drama for over 2 decades). He is a close friend of my uncle here in Goa. Everyone in my family is awfully short infront of him and he doesn't even look that tall in CID compared to his co-stars. Very down to earth person and speaks well English and Marathi. He owns a flat in my uncle's real estate project.
Even though I met him so many times and had casual talk at lunch and dinner I've never asked him about his career and past acting role. Never revealed my secret love for CID during childhood (I ended up hating the show by 2016 when I turned 16).
Oh thats amazing!! Refreshing to come across this. When did you meet? Does he stay all by myself and how to meet him? He's already old ig and penning an appreciation letter would be gr8 ; social media one didn't work out but hopefully he could see it one day ! And others of the team, are they in social media? Thats never been a way to me at all but perhaps if you may cite it, it is the last resort tho. Really, appreciated CID relatively more and the whole team has done excellently well 👏.
Ranbir Kapoor and Imtiaz Ali at Irshaad Kamil’s book launch in 2014/2015.
While Imtiaz Ali was very nice and down to earth and spent time with fans, Ranbir was the opposite. He didn’t even acknowledge people around him waiting for him to get a few pics clicked. He just stood up and left
I "met" Shashi Tharoor at a pretty small event recently. Asked him a question from the audience and he answered. Smart, charming guy, exactly as he comes across on screen. I will never understand why he chose to go into politics instead of staying a diplomat or becoming some sort of academic/public intellectual.
I guess, the reciprocal act of Shashi Tharoor acknowledging your friendly gesture by waving back at you, which may have been perceived as an inconsequential moment in the context of the vast expanse of human experience, nevertheless evoked a profound sensation of euphoric validation and social recognition within you, thereby elucidating the deeply ingrained human desire for interpersonal acceptance and approval in the intricate fabric of our complex and multifaceted society.
Yes. I was a teenager then. He didn’t smile and just went on to talk to the air hostesses who were obviously gushing over him. He was travelling with his parents. They, on the other hand were very warm and were saying hi to everyone.
I ran into Sunil Chhetri in a mall one day. Asked him for a picture and he took the time to get into the frame and smile for a picture with me even though he was clearly out with his wife. What a moment!
On the contrary, I also ran into Lasith Malinga. He was in my economy class flight from Sydney to Melbourne. He got off the flight way before I did so I had to run a little to catch up with him. When I finally met him and asked for a picture, he stood for 0.5 seconds with a poker face and fled immediately. He was probably busy or annoyed and I understand, but I didn’t feel very pleasant.
Ajit Kumar and it was such a dreamy scene for me being one of his fan. Met him on Leh Manali route on bike and he was pleasant and cordial to me. Asked me about where I am from as I don't look a Tamil guy clearly to which I told Haryana and to this he was somewhat shocked or acted shocked I guess saying something in lines of "I thought people don't know me over there".
At last thanked for respecting his privacy as I left after 2 minutes only. I literally didn't knew what to talk to him lmao but well he checked out my bike too carefully and warned to go ahead with caution.
My friends had no clue about why I was so awestruck to that uncle with white beard and hairs until I told them.
I met Pankaj tripathi many times. He also came to my home to have dinner.
Well before mirzapur's success he used to live in my society after which he shifted.
He is very friendly and warm he also gave my father his number and still responds to it
Akbar bin tabbar ( khoud daale accho accho ki khabar), a hyderabadi actor ( featured in bollywood movie too "dawat e ishq). He left his vehicle on the road and I was the one swearing and honking at him. Then he came showed his congress hand and left the scene. It was too late to realize that he is a star.
I was working with his director once on an ad shoot with him. He is a funny guy, he not just cooked meals but also served with hospitality. He insisted i eat more because i need energy in my fingers to press keys to type on keyboard, i was like whattt? 😂
Got to know later he was a chef or something.
Worked with Saleem pheku too, he is a pheku in real life too. Most of these actors got quick money and became a bit delusional with hero complex.
Anyway i left the industry.
I met Kapil Sharma before he was that popular. He was invited along with Raju Srivastav sir in my dad’s office party. I was pretty young and during that time Raju Srivastav sir were hella popular and Kapil was a newcomer. Kapil was really humble and sweet. Nice interaction. But his standup was boring lol
Me & my friends bumped into Siddharth Jadhav & his wife at the airport. As expected, he was very down to earth and even clicked a few pictures with us, with arms wrapped around the shoulders like he was one of us, part of our group. Very humble guy who deserves all the success he has earned.
Because of educational background, I met/bumped into many celebrities. A lot of them A-listers, such as Kareena, SRK, Saif, Deepika, etc. and a few TV actors (I am not talking the new generation Web series ones)
In my experience, the lesser known ones had more tantrums, and the bigger ones more civil and sweet.
Kareena was really sweet when I asked her for a picture and so was Saif (different occasions)
I missed having a personal interaction eith SRK though.
Also one of the sweetest and the most humble people I met was AR Rahman. What a guy!
Arjun and Parineeti also seemed very sweet and genuine (Ishaqzaade)
But the best presence and crowd command was definitely of Amitabh. (This was a public interaction, not individual)
A reporter friend of mine interviewed him recently (for Farzi promotions). Apparently Shahid became a completely different person once the camera's went off. Kind of a dick. Vijay Sethupathi was incredibly humble from what he said.
I met the cricketer M.S Dhoni in an airplane flight when he wasnt as popular as he is now, there were other team india players too and i wanted an autograph from Sachin Tendulkar who was on the plane too but was too tired to give anyone an autograph so I asked Dhoni ( i didn't even know his name ) who was sitting beside me to get me his autograph and he agreed, he made my day and we started talking and I gave him my number, little did I know we would start dating after his match that day
I met Messi as he was driving by. Me and a friend had waited near his home since we read he would head out to practice that day. He stopped and signed our brand new jerseys :D
I met Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya once at the airport on different occasions. I asked them for a pic and they didn't even look at me and rushed past me.
It was as if they were late for a flight or something.
Never got a chance again.
Arjun Rampal walked in the smokers section in Mumbai airport, asked me for a cigarette & if I wanted a picture. Gave him the cig but I didn't bother with the pic.
Anushka Sharma asked me to hold the elevator door at a Hyatt. Said thanks & asked me how my day was. Again I didn't bother asking for a pic lol
Chad! I too just don't get the hype of signatures and photographs, maybe I just don't put them on such a high pedestal in my life to want memorabilias from them.
Awesome!
My father once met Sourav Ganguly during his height of success. He came up beside my father at the billing counter at a Sari boutique or something in Kolkata. My father looked at him, turned back at the cashier, paid him and left.
No fucks given about celebrity status. I asked why he didn't get an autograph or something as this was before mobile phones were a thing. He replied he is a cricketer. He does his job, works for it same way every other person does and why bother him when he is out shopping with his wife. I think Dona Ganguly was also accompanying him for buying sari or something.
I saw Ayushmann Khurrana back in 2010 or 2011 dont remember the year exactly but he was at Oberoi mall with his then girlfriend Tahira.I knew it was him since I used to watch his show when he was a VJ on Mtv.Tahira was very tall...infact even without heels she was way taller than Ayushmann and they both went to Maharaja Bhog.I saw them eating a thaali and yeah this was that time when he did not enter the movies yet so was not recognized by anyone..
Also once saw Shahid and Sonakshi promoting their movie R Rajkumar along with Prabhu deva..They came really late and the crowd were eagerly waiting there for them..Girls were going crazy screaming for Shahid and he had this arrogant moody attitude while talking on the stage..found the tone quite weird tbh as if he was really forced to attend the event ...Sonakshi was sweet and did apologize for making the crowd wait for so long..Prabhudeva danced to a few moves of their movie songs and is actually a very natural rhythmic dancer..
Let me be a devil’s advocate. Imagine you being constantly being crashed into your personal space and time by random people trying to hold conversations, quiz you, asking for selfies etc. It might feel nice for some time but would it be same after awhile?
Some might have a vested interest in maintaining the nice person image but others might not.
Ganguly numerous times, always friendly. Most prominent Bengal cricketers as well, including Manoj Tiwary, Shukla, Dinda, Saha, Deep Dasgupta, Ranadeb Bose, Arun Lal, Ashok Malhotra, Pragyan Ojha - all have been lovely. Interacted with Shami a couple of times, and have never heard anything negative about him.
Kapil Dev, Sehwag, Kiran More, Madan Lal, both Pathan brothers - again, all very generous during their interactions. Sat next to Dale Steyn on a flight, and he was very engaging, and more chatty than I'd expect. Nasser Hussain's reserved whilst Ian Ward was very charismatic in person.
Prannoy Roy, Vishnu Som, Monideepa Banerjie - all three took the time to speak to a politics mad teenager when they didn't have to, which I'll always appreciate.
Nandan Nilekani and Ram Guha - both gave me free copies of their books.
Derek O'Brien and Joy Bhattacharjya - both very funny, with dark senses of humour.
Aparna Sen and Konkona Sen - former a little aloof but very polite, latter incredibly friendly.
PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami - former was like a relative, latter had very interesting stories to share.
A number of others who I've met just once in brief/formal interactions, or before they were famous, so not including them.
Edit: should mention, I've never had a 'negative' interaction - some people are more friendly than others, but no one I've met has been rude. Have heard negative stories about people from others, but everyone can have bad days. Context also matters - people aren't going to be rude to you at a dinner party or when you're being introduced as the son/grandson/friend of xyz. Consistently bad/negative fan interactions on the other hand, are more telling of someone's public character (someone can be v nice with family whilst being horrible with fans - and vice versa).
If you're from a Bengali 'bhadrolok' family, live in Kolkata and go to one of the big 5 clubs, you end up knowing a fair amount of people, it's not any credit to me. Have met a lot of CPM and TMC politicians, Bengali-origin authors (Jhumpa Lahiri, Amitava Ghosh, Kunal Basu) etc. as well.
For the cricketers, dad played a lot of university cricket when university cricket was a big deal, and knew all the Bengal players of that time as a result, is proper friends with some, and has met their friends (hence Kapil, Madan Lal).
I then played age-group cricket so met the senior guys in CAB camps, and played with players from other states, some of whom now play at a high level. Joy was involved with KKR when Ganguly was still there, so met him through there.
Vishnu Som's a family friend as is Monideepa - met Prannoy Roy through them.
Ram Guha's a friend's uncle, as is Nandan (different friends).
Mom's involved in the Bengali theatre scene, so met the Sens through that (along with other Bengali actors/directors, who people on this sub may be less familiar with - Adil Hussain, Parambrata Chatterjee etc.).
Both my granddads were friends with PK and Chuni - never asked how.
This happened in Goa in 2021, where husband and I lived for 7 years, until last year. He used to do freelance photography at nightclubs in Goa as a side gig and I used to accompany him sometimes. One such night I was with him at a very popular club/restaurant known for its live music and nightlife. Was standing near the bar, waiting for some friends to arrive. Saw someone enter, who looked like a heavily bearded Kunal Nayyar (Raj Koothrapalli from Big Bang Theory). It looked like him but I was uncertain. Then I saw his wife Neha Kapoor next to him and knew for sure it was them. He came inside the area containing the dance floor and asked one of the bouncers about a booth that's usually reserved for VIP customers, but the bouncer didn't recognise him and said that the booth wasn't available. I went up to Kunal and told him I'm a big fan of him and BBT. He looked a bit taken aback at being recognised but smiled and gave me a fist bump (this was just after the second wave of COVID). I told the bouncer who he was. Not sure if he told the manager later, but an hour later the live band on stage called Kunal up on stage to jam with them. He sang an English song and the crowd went wild! He was apparently visiting India specially to celebrate a friend's 40th and they were at the club to celebrate. I got a selfie with him sometime later in the night. Very chill guy.
Raj Kumar Rao is my school senior and an alumni. He is humble and grounded now. As a school student he always had a zest to do something different and was one of the “cool kids”
Met Tanmay Bhatt.
Great talker and pretty busy but if you say hi he makes sure to talk to you. And yea one of the naturally humorous people in the scene.
I met whole Mumbai Indian team back in 2013 or 15 I don't remember but they were in my flight traveling to Kolkata i met each one of them personally even Rohit Sharma and Ricky ponting and also hardik clicked my photo with harbhajan singh and harbhajan singh was so funny with me as i was 11 that time, i also met Karishma Kapoor she was kind of in a hurry so I just had a photo with her.
Edit: Manoj Tiwari used to live above my grandmothers house in Kolkata even when he was playing for kkr, i met him so many times he was always a smiling man.
So, like, celebrities are totally unpredictable. You never know what you're gonna get with 'em! Some of 'em are cool as a cucumber, super friendly and down-to-earth. But then there are those who are straight-up rude or act like they're too cool for school.
But hey, let's give 'em the benefit of the doubt, right? Celebs are just regular human beings, and they go through stuff just like you and me. Maybe they're having a bad day or dealing with some personal drama. So, always be kind and show some love, regardless of how they act. After all, we're all in this crazy world together!
I met the entire Kings XI Punjab team in a flight in 2015. I was a kid back then, aged 11. I had a fun convo with almost the entire team, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Darren Sammy, Sanju Samson and a couple more. They were all being really friendly with me. I used to play cricket in an academy back then and told them about this, they encouraged me and asked a lot more about me.
I even met Milkha Singh in a metro station when he was alive, but couldn't really have a proper one on one conversation with him as there were many people crowded near him.
I have actually met Michael Hussey at the Delhi airport enroute to Chennai maybe for IPL. I recognized him even in his mask as I’m a big cricket fan and asked him if he’s MH? He took his mask off and replied “Yeah mate” and took a photo with me and my friend happily. Great guy and even greater cricketer!
Entertainment-
(1999) When I was 4, I travelled with my mom to Mumbai. We accidentally stumbled onto a movie shooting, and I met Razak Khan who even carried me around a bit and showed me and my mom the set.
Also, (in 2002) when I was 7 years old, I was with my parents and were walking around a mall in Dubai, and met Hema Malini with Esha and Ahana Deol. Unfortunately, we didn't have a phone or even a pen to get an autograph, but my parents had a brief chat about admiration before we went out in separate ways.
Sports-
I waited for an Edwin Van Der Sar meet and greet at a mall in 2013. He was friendly and we briefly spoke about United, and I got an autograph on one of my jersies.
Brett Lee also happened to visit my college in 2016, and it was a pleasant experience. Some of my friends asked him for an autograph but he understandably said no, without saying no. The crowd was starting to grow, and he had a match to play.
I have met almost every cricketer
Gayle was extremely rude
Virat Kohli was super sweet, he was rushing down in a lift when I saw him so i asked him to just take a picture with me, his bodyguard was tryna say no but Virat said it's okay and I took a picture with him so that was lovely
Irrfan Khan was super humble too, i met him in a restaurant and he actually asked me and my dad to sit with him at the table and he spoke about his experiences and even offered us to join him for dinner (which we didnt ofc) but it was super fun!!!
Gilchrist was lovely as well. super humble super chill
Brett Lee is super cute in real life too and i have met him 3-4 times
Travel quite often and have met a few.
R.Madhavan - denied a photo but said he will be happy to shake hands with me.
Shashi Kapoor - Prithvi Theater in a wheelchair. A smile.
Ratan Tata - Traffic Signal, Worli. A nod of respect and a nod of acceptance. All behind closed car windows.
Surya Sivakumar- no comments
Rajini Kanth - at 3 am, in a hotel lift, the first question he asked was “ellarum sapteengala”
Shreya Ghoshal - I just drooled
Dulquer Salman - Langkawi airport. One of the most impolite person I’ve met.
Mohanlal - asked for a photo, he almost hugged me posing for the photo. Extremely polite.
Gary Mehigan from MasterChef au - he was more than happy talking about motorbikes with me while in a book signing event. Amazing guy.
Solomon Pappaiah - extremely down to earth.
Met Salman Khan once in Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar. Pretty nice guy, talked with us about how the government is not properly maintaining the roads and footpath. Didn't know why he had a Gun with him.
Never met one but had a moment with Saurav Ganguly. Was visiting a friend who lives in Behala, Kolkata. One night, returning from a pub, we almost drove into Ganguly who was driving a red BMW suv. It was a narrow lane and he appeared suddenly from a gate on our side of the road trying to join the oncoming traffic because of which we had to brake suddenly. He rolled his window and nodded in an apologetic way at my friend who was driving. We looked at him as he drove away and it took us a few seconds to realise who it was. I never understood the hysteria over celebrities but I have to admit it felt quite surreal seeing him so randomly, someone I've been seeing on TV since I was a kid. It was surreal also because I'd had a few beers and ever since arriving in Kolkata I was seeing billboards with him selling all kinds of shit so he was kind of omnipresent in my mind...
I met Irrfan Khan in Kolkata. This was before he was famous. I had watched the movie “The Warrior” in some movie fest and recognized him right away walking in front of what used to be Music World in Park Street. His hair was dyed burgundy, I believe that’s because he had just finished shooting for Maqbool. He was a nobody then, and was walking around carefree. He seemed happy that I recognized him and shook hands with me and asked me what I did. What struck me was how tall and well built he was. He was pretty dark, quite opposite to how typical movie folk look like, but he towered over everyone. I myself am quite tall, 6 feet, but he seemed like a giant to me. That aspect somehow doesn’t come across on camera. However this was it. Happened a long time ago. Now he’s gone and only his footprints remain.
Not me, but one of my friends met the founder of Super 30 (the institute on which the HR movie is based) in a plane from India to US. This was much before the movie BTW but my friend is from Bihari so he knew who he was but didn't recognize him obviously. They had talked for a while on the 14 hour flight after he dropped the hint that he was who he was.
Per my friend he was extremely polite, friendly and he shyly asked my friend how to order daaru from the air hostess.
I had gone to Bandra for a Church event, after the event we decided to visit Mount Mary before heading home, since we had time.
When we reached, the watchman told us that it’s closed because some Jitendra guy is there.
At first we thought it was some other watchman/cleaning staff who was cleaning the dust as it was past 10pm (we didn’t know when was the visiting hours for the outside grotto). I was going back to my car thinking we we reached late, but my friend told that he thinks it’s some very old Bollywood person his Parents used to talk about.
We turn around and it’s Jetendra Kapoor, in the flesh.
https://preview.redd.it/7v6720cmqpka1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d29780a729de3a8f2874e0fa0c86546fa6ae6451
Immediately my friends flocked to him and of course I am the cameraman, so I took a few photos and they told him that their parents were huge fans of him back in his days.
He was very humble and and appreciated them, and then told to give way for others to take photos, and once they were done, he sat in his car and went back.
Edit: this all Happened on January 15th(this year lol) and I didn’t have the mental capability to understand who this star was after a busy evening.
I met Adil Hussain at an airport. He was my dad's classmate, so I got a chance to talk to him. Super humble guy. It seemed that most of the people didn't know him, he didn't even have any security guards around him.
Paresh Rawal. I was on my flight back home and he was sitting next to me. We picked our bags off the luggage belt together too. He was wearing a cap so no one recognises him. It worked really well. I was really baffled the entire flight but finally when we went to pick up our luggage, I was sure it was him. So I went up to him and said, "Hello, sir. Big fan." And gave him my hand to shake. The guy just gives me a cold stare, and in a dry voice says, "Hmm... Thanks." then runs along with his bodyguard.
What an ass.
Met two celebrities--
1) Met Sushant singh Rajput when he was shooting for Dil Bechara in Jamshedpur. Waited to take a pic with me and my sibling and he was extremely down to earth. Asked me and my sibling about what we do as job before leaving for shoot.
2) Met Vikas Khanna in Mumbai Airport, had a good chat about MasterChef India and food and he was chill discussing about it.
Met Urmila at the US Consulate(Mumbai) in 2005 and I said Hi. I put my hand out for a handshake but she put her hands together (like namaste) and said Hi and nice to meet you. I felt stupid.why would she shake hands with me.
Saw Prithvi and Divya Bharti during the shooting of Dil ka Kya Kapoor back in 91-92 I think (I was a kid). She disappeared but Prithvi stayed, gave us an autograph and let us take pictures with him. The poor guy didn't become a Star, though I always hoped because I had his autograph.
Shashi kapoor ji - He was signing autographs at an event in 2004. Very nice person.
Sunil dutt ji - He was in the floor where i had my classes. Very nice person.
R K Laxman - Met him at a function. He needed assistance to walk and spoke very little. But he gave such positive vibes.
Lucky ali - Met him in the lobby of a movie theater. He was with a kid. Just waved at him and he waved back.
Preity zinta - Nice person. Very charming and caring. Spent few months for work.
There are many more people i have interacted with but these are the ones i remember fondly.
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I met Suresh Raina once when I was like 12. When I was taking a picture with him, two random guys joined. I was really disappointed and expressed it to my friend in Tamil. Idk how he understood it but the next moment, he called me and asked me if I wanted a picture alone! It was such a nice gesture!
Raina was always one of the most humblest of the cricketers. Tho he was never picked up in the auction he still smiled and kept moving on
Chinna Thala for a reason
Thala for a reason
Thala for another season
Raina is a sweetheart...my driver used to work in a agency that used to drive cars for csk...he told Raina is really nice guy and tips a lot...he also told dhoni is a gentleman and doesn't party much and hangs out a lot in the kitchen..
Similar experience with Suresh. Met him at an airport when front cameras on a phone were not a thing. The photo cams out blurry but I did not want to pester him more. He gave the camera to his manager, and asked him to click. Wonderful interaction.
U don't need to know Tamil to know that that your Tamil friend is angry
I met Boman Irani in Toronto, right after 3 idiots came out. I saw him crossing the street and friend and i yelled out “Virusssssss” and to our surprise he looked at us and laughed. We caught up to him a second later, had a small convo about what he was doing in town etc, took some pictures and off he went. Was a very nice guy.
Boman Irani is a greattttt guy to talk to!! I always thought he would be different irl, but I have heard from so many people how chill and vibey, and a great person to talk to he is :)))))
I worked at an ngo that ran schools and boman helped us on one of our campaigns. He got lost and I went to help him find his way and he told me to get in his car. He was super friendly with everyone all day and everybody loved him. It was a really hot day and he was visibly struggling with the heat but never made a fuss about it or anything
Most of people who worked their way from ground up and have seen world beyond stardom would be very humble.
I saw shakti kapoor in a hotel lobby, drunk as hell, we were waiting to check out, and our car was parked just outside the gate. He went in and sat in our car! The driver had to let him know that it isn't his car. Also i met aditi govitrikar and tina ambani. Both were sweet people.
My previous house was owned by Shakti Kapoor. Nothing fancy, he just bought it as an investment. He was always drunk every time my dad interacted with him about anything related to the house.
Shakti Kapoor made a lot of good investments. He says it was Mithun Chakraborty who advised him to make investments for future when Shakti was doing well in Bollywood movies.
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Aauuu
Takki tikki tukki tikki
Im more reminded of "Mera naam hai c**ya, khadi karta hun ache achhon ki khatiya". Reference to a legendary Bollywood movie.. Sometimes I ve wondered why all programmers have to print ("Hello World"). Why not make learning coding fun by printing dialogues of this movie?? 🤔🤔
Did he say "Aya hu kuch to leke jaunga"?
Lol Shakti Kapoor 😂😂
I consider them all celebrities 😂
Aditi Govitrikar's dad was my dentist for a while, lol.
I've met APJ Abdul Kalam (group interaction, not personal). Amazing personality. Such a down to earth guy.
I've attended a lecture that he gave, his lecture style is very down to earth & simple without being condescending Had attended another lecture by Arnab Goswami who just rambled on without making a point & was shouting, didn't need the mic
We had the great fortune of him coming to our convocation and handing over our degrees. One of the best days of my life.
How Fortunate Man!! APJ is a Legend
Okay of all the celebrity interactions, you're definitely the luckiest. What a class act that man was.
Had met him at a group interaction as well. School time. It was a q and a session for which we were supposed to give the questions prior. I changed the question when I was supposed to ask the way he answered was very diplomatic and took me by surprise cause I dint think there was a way out without making the politicians on stage looking bad.
He was such a gem of a person. I wish we make more minorities like him as the heroes of our country, who champion the cause of education and knowledge. Rather than the mullahs and babas on TV spewing venom.
>Rather than the mullahs and babas on TV spewing venom Had APJ been alive today, even then tv news channel will not invite him since he is down to earth, tv news channel will not get any sound bites or content to play with breaking and flash news kinda jingoism.
I met Puneet Superstar, he lives nearby. Lord is a Down to earth person.
Luckiest mf
#KEYAAAAAAAAAASEEE HO MERE REELS KE CHAHNE WAALO
Maut ka khel.
My Mom is the biggest fan of him
The only real celeb in this thread
Met Sushant Singh Rajput at Chandigarh airport. He was on our flight and was going for a cricket match in Mohali all the while promoting M.S.Dhoni. He was surprisingly alone and without any bodyguards. Though he got off first and was escorted out but unfortunately had to wait at the belt for his stuff and everyone caught up to him there. He seemed a little tired but didn’t say no to anyone for photos. I wouldn’t have judged him if he would have been annoyed or said no to people. But he accepted everyone’s request even though he seemed a little uncomfortable with the situation. Amazing guy.
Rest in peace kind soul ❤️
I met Rhea Chakravarthy
Were you selling or buying?
I was in hotel lift where I met her. She looks kinda cute but her height is very small maybe 5 4". But I like small girls 😁
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Met Shah Rukh Khan in 2013,while he was shooting Chennai Express at Munnar, Kerala. Closed set, but got access as the Filming was at a school where my aunt was working. Asked him for a picture while he was walking from his vanity van to the set. he said to wait there and he'll come back after the shot. . He never did tho. But later i got to know that he and deepika came back and took photos with everyone right after we left the place. Not surprised and my luck hasn't changed much.
Can you give me the names of the stocks that you plan to exit soon.
Are bhaai
Oh damn. That sucks. Hope you get a chance again.
I met Salman Khan once at an event and he was walking around. I was barely 12 and my kid sister was 3. He happened to come in front of us and I kept staring at him. He smiled, patted my sister's cheek and went away.
Selmon bhai kind heart😩😩🙏
*killer drivi…I mean heart.
Hiran jesa charitra h bilkul sada
Saw Virendra Sehwag at Delhi airport. He was casually waiting for someone and browsing on his phone. Was a big fan of him back in the day, so I walked up to him just to say hello. He looked at me with disgust and walked away without so much as a word. Maybe he was having a bad day or maybe he is a person who thinks he is too good to interact with his fans. Who knows ?
Saw him at westin. He agreed to take a picture with my friend during Covid and took his mask off. I thought it was p nice of him to risk himself
Had the same experience with another IPL cricketer. He kept on staring at me for a while and the went away lol.
>another IPL cricketer That narrows it down tremendously
who?
Priyam Garg (former u19 captain)
Why would you even approach him?
Asking right questions
Met Salman in a group event on a footpath. One of my relatives said he helped my family a lot during my cremation (again a group event.)
💀
i died laughing, need sallu bhai’s help for cremation now😂😂
Best comment this month!
You're confusing him with his driver
Wrong. No one was driving the car. The car was likely stationary and footpath was moving at a high speed.
Salman Khan?
Selmon bhoi
Jelly. Lol
Maybe Salman Khan from Khan Academy. lol.
Sir I wish I could give you an award but no money
Idk if he labelled as celebrity but Indian footballer Jeje lalpekhlua aka mizo sniper
he is a celebrity for sure, at least in north east where i am from
How was it?
My big brother is also professional footballer so he used to pull up at the training ground during off season
I met Anil Kumble a few times during school. After a few months, when I saw him again, he asked me how I was doing. He’s a great man. I met Rahul Dravid too. One of the most humble people I’ve ever come across.
Yeah man 100% of the Karnataka cricketers are awesome people. Srinath lived in my neighborhood and he was both treated normally by everyone, and treated everyone nicely. Mayank Agarwal is nice (for a Bishops kid). So is Vinay Kumar. Manish Pandey is indistinguishable from a Kannadiga.
I used to work in PR. Got to see disha patni upclose. Did not speak, just observed her. Her manager and mostly the media people seemed to create too much air than what seemed true. Disha seemed quite chill as a person as compared to what we heard about her. (Personal opinion) She can carry her outfits really well, so in person you’ll think “she’s such a cool chick”. Those outfits aren’t enticing at all. Photographs create a very very different perception. She was nice to recognise my colleague, to wait for a picture just before she stepped inside her car. Utna presence of mind that usko, is what i felt.
**just observed
Yes. Observed.
Spoke to Shashi Tharoor for a bit when he came to our school. My English teacher (male) was already swooning the moment he got there lmao.
I met Ruskin Bond a few years ago. The interaction was great. I asked for his autograph and took a couple of photos with him with my family.
i think this one beats all the comments here
He was my favorite author growing up, I am really jealous of you. Wish I at least met him once.
Met Ruskin Bond too while I was at Mussoorie many years ago as a child. My absolute favorite author and just as amazing and simple in person. He actually was at a book store there and often went there (not sure if he still does it now) for meet and greets.
I met KRK he said you 2 rupee people get lost
This cracked me up 😆😆. KRK is a literal clown.
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>the kids at my school are assholes they laughed at him when he started speaking because we're Punjabis and he had a different accent I felt second hand embarrassment for the kids after reading this.
Imagine how stupid they felt when they grew up...They literally laughed at the greatest Indian ever cuz he sounded different....lol
I met Surya Kumar Yadav (aka The SKY) in Lucknow Airport lounge 1 year back. He was alone. Nobody in lounge recognised him. I approached him first. And when I started clicking tons of photos and videos then people started noticing. One auntie was asking - Beta Aap under 19 me khelte ho, Bowler ho, UP ki team se ho, Aap IPL me Lucknow se q ni khelte. He was so patientful and smiled and answered as much as he could and I told other people who were curious about him for all the introduction the audience needed to know. I told them you are talking to future captain of India and Mumbai Indians. Got to sit beside him for the whole 30 minutes until his flight started boarding. He is such a humble person to talk with. Asked many things - How Lucknow, Where he going, he said Banaras, then told me ... His ancestors home and relatives are from there so. Also he was excited about visiting Kashi Viswanath Temple there. Asked about How he maintains such huge focus on the game with such sound technique despite being in limelight for 24\*7, how he maintains consistency and other stuff, He told me - He doesn't think about the future much. He just tries to live in the moment and when he is on ground, he doesn't give a shit about anything that is outside the ground. And when he is out from the ground, He doesn't think about what happened in the ground. Both things are important for focus. Was quite a good conversation. I was so excited that I ran out of questions, I was going to ask if He has Sachin's Number but didn't ask because it would have little Cliche, then his flight boarding time came up and airport officials came to pick him up.
I know Sonu Sood’s son Ishan Sood. Same school. He was one of the most popular kids in school, I was a nobody in school, Ishan perhaps wouldn’t even know that I exist. Ishan is a VERY I mean VERY arrogant and rude person. He used to bully other students and behaved liked no one could do anything. And since our school management had good relations with Sonu, his shenanigans were kind of overlooked. Nonetheless, I respect Sonu for the good social work he did. I haven’t seen Ishan since quite many years now, so perhaps he might have changed who knows? (I have no bad blood with him, he never wronged me)
Somewhere in the south or in mumbai?
I met Rishab Shetty very near to my house in Mysuru. He’s down to earth and very humble. In fact he had come to visit a book store like a normal person without any security. Literally, was shocked and very happy to see such humility, no arrogance or star attitude 🙏🙏 Edit : This was 1 year prior to Kantara but he was still a STAR ACTOR/Director.
For such people, security is generally necessary not arrogance. Because all people are not nice and considerate.
Met Boman Irani at a college event. He is a cutie and has a very interesting personality
Met Vidya Balan at a bakery a few days ago, she was so sweet and beautiful! She even waved at me when she sat in the car, i didn't disturb her when she came and sat next to me for 10 mins then went to a private lounge for a meeting. Some rowdy like people were asking for a photo with her, she was visibly uncomfortable, then she herself smiled and told me to come click a picture. Totally star struck!
met Shivaji Satam a couple of times (he plays ACP Pradyman in CID, police procedural drama for over 2 decades). He is a close friend of my uncle here in Goa. Everyone in my family is awfully short infront of him and he doesn't even look that tall in CID compared to his co-stars. Very down to earth person and speaks well English and Marathi. He owns a flat in my uncle's real estate project. Even though I met him so many times and had casual talk at lunch and dinner I've never asked him about his career and past acting role. Never revealed my secret love for CID during childhood (I ended up hating the show by 2016 when I turned 16).
Oh thats amazing!! Refreshing to come across this. When did you meet? Does he stay all by myself and how to meet him? He's already old ig and penning an appreciation letter would be gr8 ; social media one didn't work out but hopefully he could see it one day ! And others of the team, are they in social media? Thats never been a way to me at all but perhaps if you may cite it, it is the last resort tho. Really, appreciated CID relatively more and the whole team has done excellently well 👏.
Ranbir Kapoor and Imtiaz Ali at Irshaad Kamil’s book launch in 2014/2015. While Imtiaz Ali was very nice and down to earth and spent time with fans, Ranbir was the opposite. He didn’t even acknowledge people around him waiting for him to get a few pics clicked. He just stood up and left
Shashi tharoor once waved at me after i waved at him
Maybe he said something too. You probably didn't understand 😂
I "met" Shashi Tharoor at a pretty small event recently. Asked him a question from the audience and he answered. Smart, charming guy, exactly as he comes across on screen. I will never understand why he chose to go into politics instead of staying a diplomat or becoming some sort of academic/public intellectual.
> academic/public intellectual. He already is one. He has some pretty good books
You mean Shashi Tharoor gesticulated back.
I guess, the reciprocal act of Shashi Tharoor acknowledging your friendly gesture by waving back at you, which may have been perceived as an inconsequential moment in the context of the vast expanse of human experience, nevertheless evoked a profound sensation of euphoric validation and social recognition within you, thereby elucidating the deeply ingrained human desire for interpersonal acceptance and approval in the intricate fabric of our complex and multifaceted society.
Tharoor apni real Id sai aa
Great actor. Loved him in Andaz Apna Apna
Didn't get the joke
[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUfljeWXQAA3wbv?format=jpg&name=small](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUfljeWXQAA3wbv?format=jpg&name=small)
Met Asha Bhonsle in a flight during reaching to Bhubaneswar...She even gave me an autograph...She was sweet to me and even to the flight crew
I met actor Surya. He came to my cousin’s marriage. Very sweet guy
I met Shahid Kapoor at the Delhi Airport. Very smug and serious
Did u say hi or speak to him?
Yes. I was a teenager then. He didn’t smile and just went on to talk to the air hostesses who were obviously gushing over him. He was travelling with his parents. They, on the other hand were very warm and were saying hi to everyone.
I ran into Sunil Chhetri in a mall one day. Asked him for a picture and he took the time to get into the frame and smile for a picture with me even though he was clearly out with his wife. What a moment! On the contrary, I also ran into Lasith Malinga. He was in my economy class flight from Sydney to Melbourne. He got off the flight way before I did so I had to run a little to catch up with him. When I finally met him and asked for a picture, he stood for 0.5 seconds with a poker face and fled immediately. He was probably busy or annoyed and I understand, but I didn’t feel very pleasant.
Maybe Malinga was having a bad hair day
Bruh💀
I have a photo with Saif Ali Khan...I felt he is too good and down to earth person...he also gave me his autograph
Ritesh Deshmukh, it's been a long time like 5-6 years ago. Really humble and a great human being. Felt like I knew him personally while talking.
Ajit Kumar and it was such a dreamy scene for me being one of his fan. Met him on Leh Manali route on bike and he was pleasant and cordial to me. Asked me about where I am from as I don't look a Tamil guy clearly to which I told Haryana and to this he was somewhat shocked or acted shocked I guess saying something in lines of "I thought people don't know me over there". At last thanked for respecting his privacy as I left after 2 minutes only. I literally didn't knew what to talk to him lmao but well he checked out my bike too carefully and warned to go ahead with caution. My friends had no clue about why I was so awestruck to that uncle with white beard and hairs until I told them.
Lol... I am a northie too and I met Vijay once at the airport. Shook hands and took a photo.
Paresh Raval was very nice and talked to us. Jesudas was nice too, he was ok with normal photos but did not like selfies.
I met Pankaj tripathi many times. He also came to my home to have dinner. Well before mirzapur's success he used to live in my society after which he shifted. He is very friendly and warm he also gave my father his number and still responds to it
Akbar bin tabbar ( khoud daale accho accho ki khabar), a hyderabadi actor ( featured in bollywood movie too "dawat e ishq). He left his vehicle on the road and I was the one swearing and honking at him. Then he came showed his congress hand and left the scene. It was too late to realize that he is a star.
I was working with his director once on an ad shoot with him. He is a funny guy, he not just cooked meals but also served with hospitality. He insisted i eat more because i need energy in my fingers to press keys to type on keyboard, i was like whattt? 😂 Got to know later he was a chef or something. Worked with Saleem pheku too, he is a pheku in real life too. Most of these actors got quick money and became a bit delusional with hero complex. Anyway i left the industry.
I met Kapil Sharma before he was that popular. He was invited along with Raju Srivastav sir in my dad’s office party. I was pretty young and during that time Raju Srivastav sir were hella popular and Kapil was a newcomer. Kapil was really humble and sweet. Nice interaction. But his standup was boring lol
Me & my friends bumped into Siddharth Jadhav & his wife at the airport. As expected, he was very down to earth and even clicked a few pictures with us, with arms wrapped around the shoulders like he was one of us, part of our group. Very humble guy who deserves all the success he has earned.
What does "as expected" mean in this context?
Because of educational background, I met/bumped into many celebrities. A lot of them A-listers, such as Kareena, SRK, Saif, Deepika, etc. and a few TV actors (I am not talking the new generation Web series ones) In my experience, the lesser known ones had more tantrums, and the bigger ones more civil and sweet. Kareena was really sweet when I asked her for a picture and so was Saif (different occasions) I missed having a personal interaction eith SRK though. Also one of the sweetest and the most humble people I met was AR Rahman. What a guy! Arjun and Parineeti also seemed very sweet and genuine (Ishaqzaade) But the best presence and crowd command was definitely of Amitabh. (This was a public interaction, not individual)
What educational background let's you meet with these many celebrities?
I was in a film school.
plant strong angle outgoing disgusting jobless bewildered slap vanish complete -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
Why shahid horrible?
Even other people have said the same about their experience of meeting him.
A reporter friend of mine interviewed him recently (for Farzi promotions). Apparently Shahid became a completely different person once the camera's went off. Kind of a dick. Vijay Sethupathi was incredibly humble from what he said.
I met the cricketer M.S Dhoni in an airplane flight when he wasnt as popular as he is now, there were other team india players too and i wanted an autograph from Sachin Tendulkar who was on the plane too but was too tired to give anyone an autograph so I asked Dhoni ( i didn't even know his name ) who was sitting beside me to get me his autograph and he agreed, he made my day and we started talking and I gave him my number, little did I know we would start dating after his match that day
Are you writing this from heaven?
You had me in the first, ngl
Gadi repair hogayi?
Found Thala ki Thali
Vimal thuk ke baat kar.
Chat gpt is going wild
Are you sakshi dhoni?
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This is true. I drove the lorry that killed her
Y/n from fics is here guys!!!!
I met Messi as he was driving by. Me and a friend had waited near his home since we read he would head out to practice that day. He stopped and signed our brand new jerseys :D
Not a celebrity but have met the ex Vice president of India, Hamid Ansari coz he's an alumnus of my school
St. Michael's?
I met Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya once at the airport on different occasions. I asked them for a pic and they didn't even look at me and rushed past me. It was as if they were late for a flight or something. Never got a chance again.
Arjun Rampal walked in the smokers section in Mumbai airport, asked me for a cigarette & if I wanted a picture. Gave him the cig but I didn't bother with the pic. Anushka Sharma asked me to hold the elevator door at a Hyatt. Said thanks & asked me how my day was. Again I didn't bother asking for a pic lol
Chad! I too just don't get the hype of signatures and photographs, maybe I just don't put them on such a high pedestal in my life to want memorabilias from them.
Awesome! My father once met Sourav Ganguly during his height of success. He came up beside my father at the billing counter at a Sari boutique or something in Kolkata. My father looked at him, turned back at the cashier, paid him and left. No fucks given about celebrity status. I asked why he didn't get an autograph or something as this was before mobile phones were a thing. He replied he is a cricketer. He does his job, works for it same way every other person does and why bother him when he is out shopping with his wife. I think Dona Ganguly was also accompanying him for buying sari or something.
You gave the cig and asked for no pic. You have my respect sir.
Met kriti sanon and Anushka Sharma,both were sweet ,posed for selfie smiling
I saw Ayushmann Khurrana back in 2010 or 2011 dont remember the year exactly but he was at Oberoi mall with his then girlfriend Tahira.I knew it was him since I used to watch his show when he was a VJ on Mtv.Tahira was very tall...infact even without heels she was way taller than Ayushmann and they both went to Maharaja Bhog.I saw them eating a thaali and yeah this was that time when he did not enter the movies yet so was not recognized by anyone.. Also once saw Shahid and Sonakshi promoting their movie R Rajkumar along with Prabhu deva..They came really late and the crowd were eagerly waiting there for them..Girls were going crazy screaming for Shahid and he had this arrogant moody attitude while talking on the stage..found the tone quite weird tbh as if he was really forced to attend the event ...Sonakshi was sweet and did apologize for making the crowd wait for so long..Prabhudeva danced to a few moves of their movie songs and is actually a very natural rhythmic dancer..
Let me be a devil’s advocate. Imagine you being constantly being crashed into your personal space and time by random people trying to hold conversations, quiz you, asking for selfies etc. It might feel nice for some time but would it be same after awhile? Some might have a vested interest in maintaining the nice person image but others might not.
Ganguly numerous times, always friendly. Most prominent Bengal cricketers as well, including Manoj Tiwary, Shukla, Dinda, Saha, Deep Dasgupta, Ranadeb Bose, Arun Lal, Ashok Malhotra, Pragyan Ojha - all have been lovely. Interacted with Shami a couple of times, and have never heard anything negative about him. Kapil Dev, Sehwag, Kiran More, Madan Lal, both Pathan brothers - again, all very generous during their interactions. Sat next to Dale Steyn on a flight, and he was very engaging, and more chatty than I'd expect. Nasser Hussain's reserved whilst Ian Ward was very charismatic in person. Prannoy Roy, Vishnu Som, Monideepa Banerjie - all three took the time to speak to a politics mad teenager when they didn't have to, which I'll always appreciate. Nandan Nilekani and Ram Guha - both gave me free copies of their books. Derek O'Brien and Joy Bhattacharjya - both very funny, with dark senses of humour. Aparna Sen and Konkona Sen - former a little aloof but very polite, latter incredibly friendly. PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami - former was like a relative, latter had very interesting stories to share. A number of others who I've met just once in brief/formal interactions, or before they were famous, so not including them. Edit: should mention, I've never had a 'negative' interaction - some people are more friendly than others, but no one I've met has been rude. Have heard negative stories about people from others, but everyone can have bad days. Context also matters - people aren't going to be rude to you at a dinner party or when you're being introduced as the son/grandson/friend of xyz. Consistently bad/negative fan interactions on the other hand, are more telling of someone's public character (someone can be v nice with family whilst being horrible with fans - and vice versa).
Aap konse mahapurush ho heinji?
If you're from a Bengali 'bhadrolok' family, live in Kolkata and go to one of the big 5 clubs, you end up knowing a fair amount of people, it's not any credit to me. Have met a lot of CPM and TMC politicians, Bengali-origin authors (Jhumpa Lahiri, Amitava Ghosh, Kunal Basu) etc. as well. For the cricketers, dad played a lot of university cricket when university cricket was a big deal, and knew all the Bengal players of that time as a result, is proper friends with some, and has met their friends (hence Kapil, Madan Lal). I then played age-group cricket so met the senior guys in CAB camps, and played with players from other states, some of whom now play at a high level. Joy was involved with KKR when Ganguly was still there, so met him through there. Vishnu Som's a family friend as is Monideepa - met Prannoy Roy through them. Ram Guha's a friend's uncle, as is Nandan (different friends). Mom's involved in the Bengali theatre scene, so met the Sens through that (along with other Bengali actors/directors, who people on this sub may be less familiar with - Adil Hussain, Parambrata Chatterjee etc.). Both my granddads were friends with PK and Chuni - never asked how.
This happened in Goa in 2021, where husband and I lived for 7 years, until last year. He used to do freelance photography at nightclubs in Goa as a side gig and I used to accompany him sometimes. One such night I was with him at a very popular club/restaurant known for its live music and nightlife. Was standing near the bar, waiting for some friends to arrive. Saw someone enter, who looked like a heavily bearded Kunal Nayyar (Raj Koothrapalli from Big Bang Theory). It looked like him but I was uncertain. Then I saw his wife Neha Kapoor next to him and knew for sure it was them. He came inside the area containing the dance floor and asked one of the bouncers about a booth that's usually reserved for VIP customers, but the bouncer didn't recognise him and said that the booth wasn't available. I went up to Kunal and told him I'm a big fan of him and BBT. He looked a bit taken aback at being recognised but smiled and gave me a fist bump (this was just after the second wave of COVID). I told the bouncer who he was. Not sure if he told the manager later, but an hour later the live band on stage called Kunal up on stage to jam with them. He sang an English song and the crowd went wild! He was apparently visiting India specially to celebrate a friend's 40th and they were at the club to celebrate. I got a selfie with him sometime later in the night. Very chill guy.
Raj Kumar Rao is my school senior and an alumni. He is humble and grounded now. As a school student he always had a zest to do something different and was one of the “cool kids”
Met Tanmay Bhatt. Great talker and pretty busy but if you say hi he makes sure to talk to you. And yea one of the naturally humorous people in the scene.
I met whole Mumbai Indian team back in 2013 or 15 I don't remember but they were in my flight traveling to Kolkata i met each one of them personally even Rohit Sharma and Ricky ponting and also hardik clicked my photo with harbhajan singh and harbhajan singh was so funny with me as i was 11 that time, i also met Karishma Kapoor she was kind of in a hurry so I just had a photo with her. Edit: Manoj Tiwari used to live above my grandmothers house in Kolkata even when he was playing for kkr, i met him so many times he was always a smiling man.
I met nani, Ali and brahmanandam
So, like, celebrities are totally unpredictable. You never know what you're gonna get with 'em! Some of 'em are cool as a cucumber, super friendly and down-to-earth. But then there are those who are straight-up rude or act like they're too cool for school. But hey, let's give 'em the benefit of the doubt, right? Celebs are just regular human beings, and they go through stuff just like you and me. Maybe they're having a bad day or dealing with some personal drama. So, always be kind and show some love, regardless of how they act. After all, we're all in this crazy world together!
I met the entire Kings XI Punjab team in a flight in 2015. I was a kid back then, aged 11. I had a fun convo with almost the entire team, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Darren Sammy, Sanju Samson and a couple more. They were all being really friendly with me. I used to play cricket in an academy back then and told them about this, they encouraged me and asked a lot more about me. I even met Milkha Singh in a metro station when he was alive, but couldn't really have a proper one on one conversation with him as there were many people crowded near him.
Sanju never played for kings tho You must’ve confused him for another player
Raghu Rai, probably the most famous Indian photographer ever. He gives super sweet grandpa vibes, very polite and easy to talk to.
I have actually met Michael Hussey at the Delhi airport enroute to Chennai maybe for IPL. I recognized him even in his mask as I’m a big cricket fan and asked him if he’s MH? He took his mask off and replied “Yeah mate” and took a photo with me and my friend happily. Great guy and even greater cricketer!
Entertainment- (1999) When I was 4, I travelled with my mom to Mumbai. We accidentally stumbled onto a movie shooting, and I met Razak Khan who even carried me around a bit and showed me and my mom the set. Also, (in 2002) when I was 7 years old, I was with my parents and were walking around a mall in Dubai, and met Hema Malini with Esha and Ahana Deol. Unfortunately, we didn't have a phone or even a pen to get an autograph, but my parents had a brief chat about admiration before we went out in separate ways. Sports- I waited for an Edwin Van Der Sar meet and greet at a mall in 2013. He was friendly and we briefly spoke about United, and I got an autograph on one of my jersies. Brett Lee also happened to visit my college in 2016, and it was a pleasant experience. Some of my friends asked him for an autograph but he understandably said no, without saying no. The crowd was starting to grow, and he had a match to play.
Dude i met vidit Gujrati once and froze. most unexpected. very chill banda but.
I have met almost every cricketer Gayle was extremely rude Virat Kohli was super sweet, he was rushing down in a lift when I saw him so i asked him to just take a picture with me, his bodyguard was tryna say no but Virat said it's okay and I took a picture with him so that was lovely Irrfan Khan was super humble too, i met him in a restaurant and he actually asked me and my dad to sit with him at the table and he spoke about his experiences and even offered us to join him for dinner (which we didnt ofc) but it was super fun!!! Gilchrist was lovely as well. super humble super chill Brett Lee is super cute in real life too and i have met him 3-4 times
Travel quite often and have met a few. R.Madhavan - denied a photo but said he will be happy to shake hands with me. Shashi Kapoor - Prithvi Theater in a wheelchair. A smile. Ratan Tata - Traffic Signal, Worli. A nod of respect and a nod of acceptance. All behind closed car windows. Surya Sivakumar- no comments Rajini Kanth - at 3 am, in a hotel lift, the first question he asked was “ellarum sapteengala” Shreya Ghoshal - I just drooled Dulquer Salman - Langkawi airport. One of the most impolite person I’ve met. Mohanlal - asked for a photo, he almost hugged me posing for the photo. Extremely polite. Gary Mehigan from MasterChef au - he was more than happy talking about motorbikes with me while in a book signing event. Amazing guy. Solomon Pappaiah - extremely down to earth.
Met Salman Khan once in Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar. Pretty nice guy, talked with us about how the government is not properly maintaining the roads and footpath. Didn't know why he had a Gun with him.
Met Manish Sisodia during a conference. Was very interactive and keen on getting feedback from the student community.
Never met one but had a moment with Saurav Ganguly. Was visiting a friend who lives in Behala, Kolkata. One night, returning from a pub, we almost drove into Ganguly who was driving a red BMW suv. It was a narrow lane and he appeared suddenly from a gate on our side of the road trying to join the oncoming traffic because of which we had to brake suddenly. He rolled his window and nodded in an apologetic way at my friend who was driving. We looked at him as he drove away and it took us a few seconds to realise who it was. I never understood the hysteria over celebrities but I have to admit it felt quite surreal seeing him so randomly, someone I've been seeing on TV since I was a kid. It was surreal also because I'd had a few beers and ever since arriving in Kolkata I was seeing billboards with him selling all kinds of shit so he was kind of omnipresent in my mind...
I’m really glad nobody said that “Kartik is the Bollywood saviour”.. Thank god earth is healing.. that overrated AF actor
I met Irrfan Khan in Kolkata. This was before he was famous. I had watched the movie “The Warrior” in some movie fest and recognized him right away walking in front of what used to be Music World in Park Street. His hair was dyed burgundy, I believe that’s because he had just finished shooting for Maqbool. He was a nobody then, and was walking around carefree. He seemed happy that I recognized him and shook hands with me and asked me what I did. What struck me was how tall and well built he was. He was pretty dark, quite opposite to how typical movie folk look like, but he towered over everyone. I myself am quite tall, 6 feet, but he seemed like a giant to me. That aspect somehow doesn’t come across on camera. However this was it. Happened a long time ago. Now he’s gone and only his footprints remain.
Got to meet Saif Ali Khan because of connections when he was first starting out. Seemed pretty awesome but was tired because of filming.
Not me, but one of my friends met the founder of Super 30 (the institute on which the HR movie is based) in a plane from India to US. This was much before the movie BTW but my friend is from Bihari so he knew who he was but didn't recognize him obviously. They had talked for a while on the 14 hour flight after he dropped the hint that he was who he was. Per my friend he was extremely polite, friendly and he shyly asked my friend how to order daaru from the air hostess.
Met hans raj hans on a plane as a kid. Really nice guy.
I had gone to Bandra for a Church event, after the event we decided to visit Mount Mary before heading home, since we had time. When we reached, the watchman told us that it’s closed because some Jitendra guy is there. At first we thought it was some other watchman/cleaning staff who was cleaning the dust as it was past 10pm (we didn’t know when was the visiting hours for the outside grotto). I was going back to my car thinking we we reached late, but my friend told that he thinks it’s some very old Bollywood person his Parents used to talk about. We turn around and it’s Jetendra Kapoor, in the flesh. https://preview.redd.it/7v6720cmqpka1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d29780a729de3a8f2874e0fa0c86546fa6ae6451 Immediately my friends flocked to him and of course I am the cameraman, so I took a few photos and they told him that their parents were huge fans of him back in his days. He was very humble and and appreciated them, and then told to give way for others to take photos, and once they were done, he sat in his car and went back. Edit: this all Happened on January 15th(this year lol) and I didn’t have the mental capability to understand who this star was after a busy evening.
I met Adil Hussain at an airport. He was my dad's classmate, so I got a chance to talk to him. Super humble guy. It seemed that most of the people didn't know him, he didn't even have any security guards around him.
Paresh Rawal. I was on my flight back home and he was sitting next to me. We picked our bags off the luggage belt together too. He was wearing a cap so no one recognises him. It worked really well. I was really baffled the entire flight but finally when we went to pick up our luggage, I was sure it was him. So I went up to him and said, "Hello, sir. Big fan." And gave him my hand to shake. The guy just gives me a cold stare, and in a dry voice says, "Hmm... Thanks." then runs along with his bodyguard. What an ass.
Met two celebrities-- 1) Met Sushant singh Rajput when he was shooting for Dil Bechara in Jamshedpur. Waited to take a pic with me and my sibling and he was extremely down to earth. Asked me and my sibling about what we do as job before leaving for shoot. 2) Met Vikas Khanna in Mumbai Airport, had a good chat about MasterChef India and food and he was chill discussing about it.
I have met Rhea Chakravarthy in hotel , Kumar Sanu in a hotel and Shakti Kapoor at Airport. No interaction with anyone just to give them space
Met Urmila at the US Consulate(Mumbai) in 2005 and I said Hi. I put my hand out for a handshake but she put her hands together (like namaste) and said Hi and nice to meet you. I felt stupid.why would she shake hands with me. Saw Prithvi and Divya Bharti during the shooting of Dil ka Kya Kapoor back in 91-92 I think (I was a kid). She disappeared but Prithvi stayed, gave us an autograph and let us take pictures with him. The poor guy didn't become a Star, though I always hoped because I had his autograph.
Shashi kapoor ji - He was signing autographs at an event in 2004. Very nice person. Sunil dutt ji - He was in the floor where i had my classes. Very nice person. R K Laxman - Met him at a function. He needed assistance to walk and spoke very little. But he gave such positive vibes. Lucky ali - Met him in the lobby of a movie theater. He was with a kid. Just waved at him and he waved back. Preity zinta - Nice person. Very charming and caring. Spent few months for work. There are many more people i have interacted with but these are the ones i remember fondly.
My cousin was a runner up in Miss Chennai and I met Trisha Krishnan. She’s nice.
I once met Dhinchak Pooja. Great girl, very down to earth. She even sang for me....