When Akbar Asif throws a party, he does it in true mogul style, akin to his late father K. Asif's grandiose approach to life, cinema and art! The weekend saw London hosting one of the grandest parties ever, when Mr. Asif decided to bring in his daughter Haya's eighteenth birthday with an eclectic mix of entertainment, and Saturday night at the Dorchester on Park Lane came alive in splendid colour.

The evening of eighteenth August saw India's legendary artist M.F. Husain painting to the beats of Mughal-E-Azam's qawali, finishing the great canvas he had started of young Haya when he gifted her a red Porsche and designed the art of her birthday card. While the special invitation precursor to this event was grand, watching the artist using his brush with quick magical strokes live at the packed Dorchester ballroom was enthralling; Husain added a splendid crown onto Haya's portrait on a huge canvas and adorned the creation with an angelic bird. The crowd was in rapture, as many stood and started crowding around the artist at work, trying to get a closer look of the master finishing his portrait of Haya. Amongst those in the crowd watching the proceedings was a crowd diverse in profile, ranging from Indian industrialists like the Hindujas to the veteran actor Jackie Shroff to the star comedian Rajpal Yadav to other senior stars from bollywood like Prem Chopra and Raza Murad. Of course, adding British flavour to the evening was royalty, several leading London businessmen, socialites and top models. Many took to the dance floor as belly dancers flown down from the Lido, Paris, started dancing all over the Grand Ballroom, weaving between the sit-down dinner tables and gyrating to the rocking music.

Champagne flowed through the evening till early hours of the morning and the dinner laid out was a feast fit for kings, while the open bar had guests around ordering their choice selections.

When MovieTalkies spoke to M.F. Husain as an exclusive, the artist explained: "Akbar's daughter Haya is a princess and on this beautiful day I decided to crown her. I am a great admirer of Mughal-E-Azam and painting her in such a mehfil with

the film's greatest song playing as inspiration is befitting." As soon as the song ended, Husainsaab placed the final touch on the canvas, and Haya with parents Akbar and Kavita Asif joined him on stage before the canvas to a standing ovation. A grand cake was then cut by Haya with family and friends cheering the birthday girl.

We caught an exclusive with Haya just after the cake cutting ceremony. "Today was something really special but a bit overwhelming. Something like this is new to me and it was fabulous to have my painting done by legendary painter M.F. Husain. For that matter, have never really given a media interview, even this is a first," exclaims Haya. When asked whether there are any plans for Bollywood, she smilingly says: "Well, not at the moment really though I love Bollywood movies and would love to come down to Bombay sometime. I do a lot of theatre, mainly Shakespeare, and let's see what the future holds."

Jab raat ho itni matwali to subah ka aalam kya hoga! Akbar Asif spoke joyously of this special day: "I feel this day is one of the most special days of my life and there is nothing that I could do that could be enough. I always celebrate my daughter's birthday in a grand manner but being her eighteenth birthday, I wanted her portrait to be by Husain, who is the greatest Indian painter today."

Mr. Asif added: "This is the beginning of a long relationship with M.F.Husain, and I will tell you more very soon of a grand association." When pressed for more, the charming and gracious host smiled, promising more information very soon.

Jackie Shroff, emotional of his early days friendship with Akbar, recounted: "I know Akbar from early days living in Mumbai when we as boys would frequent a game parlour, but then we were out of touch for a while. Recently, we re-established contact and our daughters are good friends, so every year when Akbar plans Haya's birthday celebration we make it a point to be here, beti ki khushi mein shamil hona farz hai. Only he could plan an event like this for a birthday celebration!"

The evening changed gear post dinner and festivities as the great hiphop singer Fat Joe specially flown down from America took the mike and accelerated the action on the dance floor. After singing a great happy birthday rendition, he moved on to belting out great numbers with the crowd joining in. That's entertainment, a birthday to remember!