Aisa Bhi Ek Birthday Manaaya Tha Anupam Kher Ne

It was March 7 , 1981, A struggling actor called Anupam Kher had just shifted from a slum to a broken down bungalow in Bandra - Ali Peter John

There was noone else living in the khandhar except Anupam, his brother Raju who had just come from Shimla and had a temporary job in a tin factory where he was paid 10 rupees a day , a journalist from Filmfare , Arun Kumar T .R and a young cinematographer who was looking for better prospects .

The room in which these men lived reminded me of the house where some of the young students in Gulzar's first film , "Mere Apne" lived .

Anupam was still making the rounds of the studios and OFFICES of filmmakers and finding it DIFFICULT to find work.

It was while Anupam was in this state of mind that he remembered his birthday , but he had no resources to celebrate it . He had however invited me to his Khandhar in the evening .

His brother Raju who was Anupam's best friend and support made sure that Anupam had a celebration for his birthday .

Raju who was a good cook had brought some fine quality rice and some rajma and half a bottle of Old Monk rum .

Our faces brightened up after seeing the arrangements Raju had made to make his brother's birthday special . He was one man who was totally confident about Anupam making it big one day .

Anupam told me stories about his struggle in Bombay while Raju was busy making his best effort to make the Rajma tasty and served us small pegs of Rum in the fear that the bottle would get empty soon .

Anupam who had once mixed water to have a glass of beer when he was in Shimla and could get drunk with just two pegs was getting high and one of the things he said that night was , " dekhta hoon kab tak Bambai mujhe thukraata hai, ek din toh meri taqdeer badal jaayegi "

That was the last birthday Anupam celebrated in poverty . Within a year , his luck had changed as he had predicted on that birthday his brother Raju had made memorable for him . He had only three guests that night. He now has the world as his guests.