At 'rock-star' Sonu Nigam’s 51st Bday cake-cutting, guest Javed-saab Akhtar remarked “for first time I have observed something unusual !”. What was that ? by Chaitanya Padukone

Last year on his 50th B’Day,  mega-star pop and playback singer Sonu Nigam celebrated hosted a grand star-studded lavish B’day party at Hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai. This year on his 51st Bday ( on July 30th) versatile Sonu decided to do it differently and the latest event was held in a Mumbai auditorium  In the presence of his extended family of select fans and top musical celebs like  Javed Akhtar, Anup Jalota, Talat Aziz, Shankar Mahadevan, Anu Malik, Sudesh Bhosle, Shaan, Sonu, Daboo Malik, Papon, composer Salim and Sanjay Tandon (of ‘ISAMRA’). They all sang the Happy B’day song in-chorus even as Sonu went ahead with the traditional B’day cake-cutting ceremony.

But there was a 'kahani-mein-twist',  on this same occasion, Sonu also celebrated his respected senior colleague iconic singer-composer Anup Jalota’s birthday the previous night ( July 29), Both Sonu Nigam and Anup Jalota joyfully cut each other’s B’day cakes.

This made the jovial, witty yet outspoken writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar react.  Said Javed-bhai,  “This is the first time, I am seeing two friendly celebs cutting-each-other’s-Bday-Cakes. Generally speaking, otherwise, people tend to cut each other’s paths and roads”. To which everyone present cheered and applauded with laughter. After a few seconds, the large-hearted mentor-star-maker and sangeet-guru witty Anup Jalota reacted by saying,” We prefer to open up roads and paths of each other,” and everyone clapped once again.

The modest Sonu who has always connected with his extended family of his loyal, ardent fans.  On his 51st Bday,  Sonu spent the first half of the day with his select fans over a docu-movie meet in a Mumbai auditorium.  The brief, inspiring documentary ‘Symphony of  Fate,’ (available on YouTube ) that was screened today in Mumbai is about Sonu’s Dubai live concert in February, this year. When Sonu ‘almost-lost-his-voice’ just three days before the show. And how he ‘bounced back’ with timely medical treatment, backed by divine intervention and God’s blessings. Which then enabled Sonu to perform a 03 hours 15 minutes non-stop live show attended by nearly 17000 plus fans at the Coca-Cola arena in Dubai. Talking about the plan, Sonu Nigam shared that  “We ended up performing a three-and-a-half hours show for such a large massive number of fans ”. With emotional enthusiasm, Sonu also said, “We ended up making something ( docu-film) so special that we decided to share it with my ‘soul-mates’, who others call as Fans. People who sincerely love you and follow your work,  live your life vicariously. So, when something as eventful as my experience during the Dubai concert happened, I decided to make a brief documentary and felt like making my extended family of fans, a part of it,” said Sonu who also performed two back-to-back ‘live’ shows ( creating a world-record) last month (June 2024) at the prestigious Sydney Opera House auditorium (in Australia).

Recently, Nigam had posted a video on his social media, requesting his fans to ‘register’ if they wished to be with him on his birthday. “In my 47 years of performing live, there have been a lot of ups-and-downs,  both off and on stage. For the first time, my extended family will get to see the “Real Sonu”, behind the singer Sonu Nigam they love and bless. My birthday is usually an emotional and a spiritual affair for me, where I just delve deep into my being,” shared Sonu who in the past also acted as a child artiste and a romantic hero in Bollywood movies. And even put in a guest appearance in a Marathi regional movie  Navra Maza Navsacha (2005)  directed by his buddy-mentor Sachin Pilgaonkar.

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