It was one of those parties where the who’s who of India dropped by to celebrate something very special. From Bollywood to sports, socialites and even politicos arrived at this spectacular do hosted by Mukesh and Nita Ambani to felicitate Sachin Tendulkar for scoring his 100th hundred.
Bollywood musician Pritam opened the show, premiering a song dedicated to Sachin following which Priyanka Chopra took over to play emcee for the evening honouring the legend. PC impressed all with her trivia on the Master Blaster, before telling Anjali Tendulkar, "Jab Sachin Sir ghooma ke shot maarte hain... toh... tum nahin samjhogi Anjali, kuch kuch hota hai!".
Party peaked as Aamir Khan came on stage to say a few words in hounor of the greatest cricketing legend. He revealed how sure he was about Sachin’s 100th knock and how Mukesh Ambani had pipped him in predicting Sachin`s 100th hundred way back in 2004! Aamir then invited one of Sachin`s biggest fans - the 82-year-old singing legend Lata Mangeshkar - who waxed eloquent about first meeting the cricketer at Raj Thackeray`s home many years ago.
But the high point of the do was of course when Salman Khan took the stage. A source said, “ When Salman was asked to share a few thoughts about the man of the evening, he took the mike and spoke ex tempore, keeping the audience in splits with his ready wit and charm.”
Shankar Mahadevan closed the evening with an energetic performance a little after midnight, post which guests mingled and enjoyed a lavish vegetarian spread. Harbhajan Singh and Geeta Basra made a joint entry, even as other guests like Jonty Rhodes, Parmeshwar Godrej and Vijay Mallya waltzed in and out.
Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri Virat Kohli, Virendra Sehwag, Hrithik and Sussanne Roshan, Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Raju Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Preity Zinta, Shatrughan and Poonam Sinha with Sonakshi, Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh were also present.