Bollywood bonding with Obama in Delhi

Actor Aamir Khan, musician AR Rahman, actor Shabana Azmi and writer/lyricist Javed Akhtar were among the privileged few from the  entertainment industry who were invited by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for a private dinner with US President Barack Obama on Sunday evening in New Delhi.

“The PMO put together a select guest list of celebrities, which included Vishwanathan Anand, AR Rahman, Aamir Khan, Shabana Azmi and Rajya Sabha MP Javed Akhtar. They were invited by a letter signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” informs a source. He also added that the final list, while going to press,  included dignitaries like Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, top cabinet ministers Pranab Mukherjee, AK Antony, P Chidambaram, SM Krishna, Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia and country’s youngest chief minister Omar Abdullah.

“We are not sure if everybody will be attending the dinner but we know that everybody is keen to attend the dinner. Karan Johar was also likely to be on the list, but since he’s down with malaria, he wouldn’t have been able to make it,” the source adds.

However, what is obvious is Bollywood’s silence on  Barack and Michelle Obama’s visit to Mumbai which was evident on Twitter till Obama left for New Delhi to dine with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The regular twitteratis from Bollywood — Karan Johar, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Shilpa Shetty made no mention of the visit.

Shah Rukh did make a mention of it on October 29. “American President is in India. If I had known wouldn’t have gone looking for him all over America instead met him in Andheri or Ghatkopar,” Shah Rukh tweeted referring to his earlier film My Name is Khan.

But post the US President’s visit to Mumbai, actor Salman Khan was the first one to break the silence. “You think Mr. Rajnikanth will give Obama his darshan???”

Wonder who’ll follow next?