The best parties are the ones that start out as intimate affairs — you invite your closest friends, they bring their friends along, and next thing you know it’s a big bash filled with love, laughter, and endless banter. That’s exactly what happened as Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar hosted their Diwali soirée on Monday night. The guest list was a mix of family and friends — Farhan and Shibani Akhtar, Honey Irani, Tanvi Azmi, Tabu, Divya Dutta, Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha, Lally Dhawan, and many more.
(L-R) Tabu with host Shabana Azmi and Tanvi Azmi
Azmi, who hosted the do at her Juhu flat instead of their bungalow at Janki Kutir, says food and games dominated the evening. Guests tried their luck at taash, Mahjong, and Poker. “What I love about occasions like these is that everybody invites their own friends. My friend Namrata Goyal invited her gang to learn Mahjong, Bijon Dasgupta invited some of his friends while his daughter Ananya invited her Poker gang,” she shares.
A Diwali party is incomplete without lip-smacking food. Azmi, who prides on serving home-cooked food at her gathering, says, “There was paaya, mutton biryani, Hyderabadi qubooli biryani, and shammi kebabs. For dessert, there were Khubani ka meetha with custard, sheer khurma, phirni, and payasam.” The highlights were haleem cooked by her niece Farah Naaz, and dahi vada by her sister-in-law Tanvi. The actor quips, “Dieting was constantly discussed as we stuffed our mouths with desserts.”