Happy Birthday Shahid!  I have to admit, I am secretly a bit of a Shahid fan.  And so he will get TWO dozen reasons I love you, instead of the usual dozen (this is an updated and reposted post)

1.1. I love you because you were born genetically perfect for a film star.  A brilliant actors-actor Pankuj Kapoor for a father, and a professional dancer and dance teacher for a mother.

2. I love you because your parents separated and then divorced in your childhood, and it’s not a sorrow or a secret shame, it’s just what your childhood was like and you don’t hide it.

3. I love you because you got your big break through your own talent, winning an open audition to join Shiamak Davar’s dance group.

4. I love you because got your launch at 22, but you had already been working for years, as a child actor in commercials, and back-up dancer since you were a teenager.

5. I love you because you had to gain weight for that big break!  Even at 22, you were still so skinny you looked like a child.

6. I love you because, before you were “famous”, you got to co-star with Shahrukh, Rani, and Kajol!

7. I love you because you made a movie based on the Pepsi commercial tagline!  And which reunited you with your childhood commercial co-star!

8. I love you because you had a few wilderness years after the success of your first film, but you kept cheerfully working despite the flops.  And you accepted your status as more famous for being “Kareena Kapoor’s boyfriend” than anything else.

9.  I love you because you finally found your fame when you stopped being “Kareena’s boyfriend”.  And, not so coincidentally, you finally found better onscreen chemistry with her once the offscreen chemistry ran out.

10.  I love you because, at the same time, you reunited with your first heroine for another hit, the complete opposite of the college sex farce which first brought you together.

11.  I love you because being your fan is such a rollercoaster experience.  From the highs of Vivah and Jab We Met and Kaminey, right to the lows of Mausam.

12.  I love you because you took two years off just as your career was taking flight in order to work on your father’s dream project.  Terrible career decisions, wonderful son decision.

13.  I love you because after being one of the first stars to publically date, you became one of the last stars to have an openly arranged marriage.

14.  I love you because your continued career ups and downs have lead you to great genre experimentation, everything from action films like R….Rajkumar to swoony period romances like Rangoon.

15.  I love you because you have somehow entered a unique position of being a star without being a star.  Having the talent and the fans and the public appearances, but never having the industry clout or solid box office record.

16.  I love you because even if Mausam wasn’t the greatest movie, you looked really good in it.

17.  I love you because you went back and did a film for the director who gave you your big break, even after you had hit it big.

18.  I love you because you were willing to play second fiddle to in a movie that was clearly made to glorify Rani Mukherjee.

19.  I love you because even in kind of silly action movies you still do a great job with the songs.

20.  I love you because you filmed back to back with the same actress a super fantastical and romantic movie.

21.  And the complete opposite.

22.  I love you because Rangoon was a disaster but you promoted it as hard as you could anyway, and worked as hard as you could on your role too.

 

23.  I love you because you stuck with your commitment to Padmavat, even though your attitude showed you really weren’t that into it.

24.  And finally, I love you because you do, indeed, make my dil go Uff.