Anupam Kher’s starry birthday in New York

When Anupam Kher decided to work in David O Russell’s 2012 hit, Silver Linings Playbook, little did he know that thanks to the film, he would find a special friend in Hollywood legend, Robert De Niro. In fact, the actor had quite a moving experience on Wednesday (March 7), his 63rd birthday.

Since Kher was shooting for the pilot episode of an NBC show in New York, he requested De Niro if he could meet him on his birthday. “To my amazing surprise and happiness, I was asked if I could go to his residence to meet him around 6pm. There, I discovered that actually the [De Niro] family had organised a surprise dinner for me, followed by a cake cutting ceremony,” says Kher. In fact, during the dinner, De Niro’s wife, Grace Hightower asked Kher why he still calls her husband, ‘Mr De Niro’, and not Bob like everybody else. “My reply was, “Grace, however much Mr De Niro makes me feel like a dear friend, for me, he will always be somebody larger-than-life, and God of acting,” says Kher, who also had David O Russell for company on his birthday.

Interestingly, Kher was also presented autographed books such as Richard Berenholtz’s New York New York, Pete Souza’s Obama: An Intimate Portrait: The Historic Presidency in Photographs and Altman (written by Kathryn R Altman and D’Agnolo Vallan Giulia) by De Niro and Russel. “It was the most amazing birthday of my life. Such things don’t happen in life but then my life is based on the philosophy of my play, Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai,” he says.

(From left) David O Russell, Anupam Kher, Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower

David O Russell presented an autographed copy of Altman to Kher on his birthday