Veteran actor Rakhee reached out to Shah Rukh Khan, her screen son in Baazigar and Karan Arjun, when her turn came to speak at the inauguration of the 25th Kolkata International Film Festival at Netaji Indoor Stadium on Friday evening. “Aami ei Banglar meye, aamar dhamani te Bangla royechhe (I am a daughter of Bengal, Bengal is in my veins),” she said emotionally, as Shah Rukh stood behind her. “Ei je… Baazigar,” she said, turning to him. “Ekta jinish aami onake shekhatey chai Banglay (I want to teach him something in Bengali),” she announced. Asking Shah Rukh to repeat after her, she quoted Rabindranath Tagore’s patriotic song O aamar desher maati (O my native soil), one word at a time. Shah Rukh obeyed. When she came to the words tomar porey thekai matha (I bow my head to you), she gestured (picture below) to him to touch his forehead with his fingers. As Shah Rukh looked confused, she added helpfully “adaab”. “I have no idea what I’ve said,” confessed Shah Rukh

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee warned Shah Rukh, who inaugurated the festival in the absence of chief guest Amitabh Bachchan: “Shah Rukh, no chhutti (leave). If you do chhutti, I will do katti (break ties).” Shah Rukh pretended to camp on stage and go to sleep. She gave him the certificate of “best boy”. Mamata also announced that Bachchan could not make it to the festival because of a sudden illness. Doctors, she said, had asked him not to move

Next to Shah Rukh were actress and supermodel Andie Macdowell and director Mahesh Bhatt. Bhatt spoke stridently against divisive forces. “The glue that held mankind together has withered. We need storytellers to tell us stories to bring us together,” he said

Mamata clasps the hands of Shah Rukh and Sourav Ganguly. Sourav, newly anointed as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, made his debut on the Kolkata International Film Festival stage.

“I am loving seeing them together,” beamed Mamata, quoting Nazrul Islam’s poem Eki brinte duti kusum (two flowers on the same stalk).