Madhuri Dixit's craziest fans speak on what she means to them

They gather around the cake which is surrounded by balloons candles paper hearts and cards A soft chorus of Happy Birthday is sung the cake is cut and eaten candles are blown and wishes are exchanged The birthday girl Madhuri DixitNene isnt present This is but a minor inconvenience for her fans We have been celebrating her birthday on our own for the longest time A few years back we decided to do a joint celebration bringing other fans together says Nitesh Shahani 27 a marketing manager and cofounder of the Empress Madhuri fan groupThis year to celebrate Madhuris 50th birthday on May 15 her fans have created a SpreadTheMadhuriSmile campaign that includes a screening of Hum Aapke Hain Koun HAHK in Mumbai Delhi and Pune in association with web movie platform 1018mbThe Madhuri booklet PicsMilind SaurkarCelebrations galoreSchoolteacher Smita Parmar 39 is helping coordinate the celebrations in Pune We have a screening of HAHK at Cinepolis in MagarpattaWe will also cut a cake and donate money to an NGO as a goodwill gesture Parmar whose adoration for the actress earned her the nickname Maddy Smita on Orkut also holds her own celebration Ive been cutting her birthday cake for the last decade since college A group of friends and I get together and ring in her birthday at midnight she saysAbhijit Phadale with an autographed photoIt is not unusual for fans to celebrate Madhuris birthday on their own says Shahani Many of them him included get a cake and candles and decorate it with pictures of herTill today on May 15 my friends call to wish me laughs Abhijit Phadale 36 an MNC worker who earned the nickname Abhijit Dixit back in collegePondicherrybased Vinodhinis celebrationEk Do TeenThey all remember the moment they fell in love To many it was watching the hit number Ek Do Teen from the movie Tezaab I was 10 then and I became an instant fan But it was after watching Ram Lakhan that I fell in love recalls Parmar Kalpak Chavan founder of networking club BeHiver and a manager at HDFC Bank was younger he was four when he first saw HAHK I remember telling my mother I wanted to watch all this actress films again and again he saysKalpak Chavan with his autographPhadale first saw her in a little known film Dayavan and liked her acting From there on it was passionate affair I would save pocket money to watch her films Ive seen them all and in college managed to do it firstdayfirstshow I watched Dil Toh Pagal Hai five days in a rowThe 3D figurines with a special card fans presenting Madhuri with a tiaraMeeting their idolShahani runs the Madhuri Empress fanclub on Twitter with four other fellow Madhurians it is a takeoff from a similar group on Orkut The fan page on Facebook has merged with the official Madhuri Dixit fan page the perks of this include invites to events featuring the starIn fact the club is responsible for taking a different group of fans each year to meet their idol It started thanks to her then secretary Rikku Rakeshnath He was very helpful In 2010 when Madhuri was signed on as judge for a dance reality show he allowed us to meet her on the set says Shahani who has also met her husband Dr Shriram Nene What was it like meeting her I was dumbstruck I remember telling her is I cant believe I am walking with you he laughsParmar had a similar reactionI hardly remember anything I said But she made us comfortable and came across as really sweet and humbleChavan echoes her sentiments He was part of a group who met the actress on the sets of the TV show She interacted with each of us individually she told me in Marathi that she liked my name She read out a letter we had written to her and ensured we ate something before leaving It was a dream come true moment he saysAs Shahani says they may be fans but they never get too crazy We will always remain her wellwishers