His co-star Aneet Padda is the proverbial outsider, hailing from a family with no links to cinema, but Ahaan grew up in Mumbai with in a family that has seen actors, and also grew up with a few. His father, Aloke 'Chikki' Panday, is a businessman who counts several top Bollywood stars among his closest friends.
Who is Chikki Panday?
Son of eminent surgeon Sharad Panday and brother of actor Chunky Panday, Chikki Panday is a businessman who was born in Bombay in 1966. While Chunky became a star in the late 80s and early 90s in Hindi films, Chikki became an entrepreneur. He was a member of the Steel Consumers Council, a group under the Ministry of Steel, which includes industry leaders. Chikki has also been a member of the Telephone Advisory Committees of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. He is the founder of Akshara Foundation of Arts & Learning, a non-profit that works towards providing education to underprivileged children.
Chikki Panday's Bollywood connect
Chikki has been a friend of actor-filmmaker Sohail Khan, Salman Khan's younger brother, and is close to the entire Khan family. The two families are so close that the pre-wedding festivities of Chikki's daughter, Alanna, were held at Sohail's house in Mumbai. Chikki's wife, model-turned-lifestyle coach Deanne Panday, has several high-profile clients, including Salman Khan, Preity Zinta, Lara Dutta, and Bipasha Basu. Salman has promoted her books and businesses time and again.
Chikki has also been friends with Shah Rukh Khan since the actor's early days in the film industry. In 1994, Shah Rukh was arrested for threatening a journalist who had written a magazine article defaming him. At this juncture, Chikki and actor Nana Patekar were the ones who bailed him out. Chikki's son, Ahaan, is also good friends with Shah Rukh's son, budding filmmaker Aryan Khan.
Chikki was also instrumental in getting Salman and Shah Rukh to talk to each other again, quite famously after their tiff in 2008. The businessman got the two to sit next to each other at politician Baba Siddiqui's iftaar party in 2013. The politician then got the two to talk it out and bury the hatchet.
Despite being surrounded by people from showbiz, Chikki maintains a low profile, including a negligible social media footprint.