Anupam Kher with Michael Jackson in Mumbai in 1996. (Image courtesy: anupampkher)

New Delhi:

Actor Anupam Kher recounted the story of this picture of himself with Michael Jackson when the latter visited India in 1996. Anupam Kher said that he was among the “selected people” who lined up to meet the King of Pop, who stood on an “improvised stage with his bodyguards,” at Oberoi Hotel gardens in 1996. Anupam Kher said he “broke the barricade” to hug MJ and was almost ‘bodily picked up by Michael Jackson’s bodyguards” when film distributor Bharat Shah (who had organised the meet-and-greet) intervened and introduced Anupam Kher to Michael Jackson as the “biggest actor in India.”

Here’s what Anupam Kher wrote: “When Michael Jackson visited India in 1996 a group of selected people were invited to meet him exclusively at Oberoi hotel gardens. I was also the lucky one. Thanks to Bharat Bhai Shah. There was a small stage set up in the garden with a barricade for the special guests. MJ walked down from his suite and stood on the improvised stage with his bodyguards. There was silence and sense of awe among the selected guests. I was looking at this magician who had enthralled and hypnotised the entire universe with his electrifying performances.”

“He was just few feet away from me. I wanted to capture this moment. So, I broke the barricade jumped on the stage and almost hugged MJ. The bodyguards rushed towards me and before they could pick me up bodily Bharat Bhai Shah in panic introduced me to Michael Jackson as the biggest actor in India. He immediately and politely bent down and shook a jubilant me’s hands. And my history was captured in this picture.”

Take a look at Anupam Kher’s post:

Work-wise, Anupam Kher was last seen in 2019 film The Accidental Prime Minister, in which he played the role of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.