Actor Juhi Chawla has revealed how her daughter Jahnavi Mehta joined Shah Rukh Khan’s children Aryan Khan and Suhana Khan to represent Kolkata Knight Riders for this year’s IPL auctions. Jahnavi, Aryan and Suhana had dominated headlines after they were seeing taking charge of biddings on behalf of their family-run IPL team last week.
Juhi said that her daughter showed keen interest in both watching the IPL matches and other forms of cricket right from her childhood.
“Ever since she was a little girl, Jahnavi didn’t just watch IPL, she began to watch cricket. Listening intently to the commentators, she began to understand the intricacies of the game. When she was about 12 years old, we were in Bali on a family holiday. At the hotel was a coffee table book, the size of ( what used to be ) a thick telephone directory, remember those ..??
“It had the life stories, achievements, records, a sort of almanac, of allllll the cricketers of the world. In the few days that we spent at the hotel, in between her jumping into the pool and behaving like a mad hatter, she sat at the poolside gazebo and read that book cover to cover…!!!”
The famous actor said that her daughter’s interest in cricket was both ‘unusual’ and ‘intense.’
“Which 12-year-old girl does that I wondered …? As the years have passed her interest in the game has only increased,” she added.
Jahnavi, Aryan and Suhana were seen occupying the KKR table on both days of the auction. Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi had decided to stay away from the proceedings that saw the auctioneer collapsing during the auction.
Juhi said that discussions on cricket at home always left her daughter excited and ‘enthused.’ She said that her daughter’s knowledge on cricket often left her astounded.
She said, “Jahnavi set a sort of record of being the youngest person to be allowed at the IPL Auction table 3 years ago, she was just 17. Aryan and Jahnavi attended the last Auction, and this time Suhana joined them. It is extremely kind of Mr Venky Mysore, our CEO who allows her to participate in important discussions and even encourages her to voice her views. He fondly calls her ‘ Coach ‘.
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“Of course she is just like a young intern, training at the KKR camp, but she feels so puffed about it. ????. She is where her heart is, and it shows. As a mother, I feel blessed, happy and proud of the little girl . She is extremely bright, has a long way to go, with God’s grace, she is on her way.”