When Poonam Dhillon threw a birthday party for herself, it was like a parents' night out. Tiger Shroff's mom, Ayesha, was an early bird. And was ready to leave just when husband Jackie arrived. A few photographs with the birthday girl and off went Ayesha while Jackie partied with a neta-type cap on his head. No, no kurta-pyjama, a proper party shirt and trousers but with that khadi cap which came out from his pocket midway through the evening.

Still working and still immensely popular when he strides out in public, Jackie talked of the unbelievable times when he'd do four to five shifts in a day. "Producers would come and say, give me just four hours, we'll adjust with the others... We'd end up shooting for four different films, doing four different characters in a single day."

In contrast, you have son Tiger doing one or two films a year, but always working only on one film at a time. Like right now, he's shooting only for Student Of The Year 2.

"But their work is much tougher," the proud father said. When Jackie watches Tiger's films, "What I can see is mehnat, his slogging." He also can't get over the way Tiger can jump up and sprint across a wall. But most of all, Jackie was moved when Tiger told him, "Dad, I finally had a good night's sleep."

He is gratified that after the commercial success of Baaghi 2, Tiger could allow himself to unwind.

On another table was the father of the new kid on the block, Ishaan Khattar's biological dad, Rajesh Khattar (who normally plays a gangster or a baddie). Ishaan's fame may be as Jahnvi Kapoor's hero in Dharma Productions' Dhadak, but his debut film with Iranian master Majid Majidi Beyond The Clouds released Friday. Most of us and most film festival regulars had already seen it. Said Ishaan's father, "When Smriti Irani saw the film at IFFI in Goa, after the first three scenes, she turned around and told me, 'Your son is a star.'" When Khattar remarked that the film had just begun and perhaps they should wait and see the whole film, the I&B mantri told him, "We're actors aren't we? Are we supposed to see a full film to gauge talent?"

So Ishaan's dad, too, is a very happy man. Incidentally, before his debut, Ishaan was a lean teenager, but Majidi wanted him to lose eight more kilos in a week's time. Perhaps to look the slum boy selling drugs. When the young actor's parents (who are estranged) started giving him their gyaan on how to do it carefully, Ishaan answered them by putting off his WhatsApp for two weeks. "You have to largely let them figure out stuff for themselves, they're not going to listen to you," accepted the new actor's father. By the way, Rajesh Khattar himself is not just an actor, he has been voicing all those English films that have a Hindi release. It's Khattar whose voice you'll hear next week when Robert Downey Jr speaks in Hindi in The Avengers.

On yet another table were the very content parents of the director who made Rani Mukerji's latest hit Hichki. Siddharth Malhotra's father, Prem Kishen, still runs Cinevistaa, their production company and sprawling studio. But it is Sid's victory at the box-office with Hichki that has them celebrating. Refreshingly, this was one film where Aditya Chopra broke his own rule of never having any trial shows before release and had quite a few previews before Friday. Of course, apart from being confident of the film, it emphatically proved Rani's power over her husband.

Meanwhile, the birthday girl's own children, the tall and strapping Anmol Thakeria and his sister, the slim, tender Paloma, are also readying themselves for an acting career.

What a party. While none from the older generation has faded away into obscurity, an energetic bunch of young talent has burst into the scene. The parents are happy to party and take a backseat.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author