(From left) Omar Abdullah with mother Mollie, wife Payal and father Farooq after the swearing-in. (PTI)

Srinagar, Jan. 5: Papa kehten hai… was on Farooq Abdullah’s lips but the script that unfolded in Jammu today did not tear asunder a family as in QSQT. Instead, Adbullah senior and daughter Sara appeared together in public for the first time in years.

Not just dad and daughter. Farooq’s wife of English origin, Mollie, other daughters Safia and Hina and daughter-in-law Payal were all seen together at the swearing-in of son Omar as chief minister. Observers, not necessarily political, said they could not recall an earlier instance of the family appearing together at a public event.

Of Farooq’s four children, only eldest daughter Safia is married to a Kashmiri, Asif Khan. The marriages of the others, with “outsiders”, haven’t really been “conventional”.

Omar is married to Payal, a Punjabi. Hina is now Hina Collins, having tied the knot with a South African and settled abroad.

The marriage that had raised many eyebrows, though, was that of Sara, the youngest of the siblings, with Sachin Pilot, son of late Congress leader Rajesh Pilot.

According to family sources, Farooq had avoided being seen together with Sara in public for the past few years. In spite of his happy-go-lucky liberal image, Farooq had been worried that inter-religion marriages may not be liked in conservative Kashmir, the sources said.

None from her family had attended Sara’s 2004 marriage. Relations improved later but the sources said the Abdullahs discreetly stayed away from the couple in public.

But today, the family seemed united and delighted. “We are very happy. Omar being young and dynamic will take the state in the right direction,” Sara said.

A family source, however, said: “This (the reunion) has more to do with the current upbeat political mood than anything else.”

Sachin, now an MP, had flown in from Delhi for the swearing-in, though he sat some distance from his father-in-law. Farooq had photos taken with Omar and Payal. Then Mollie posed with Omar, sporting a black sherwani, and his wife.

“Papa kehten hai bada naam karega, mera beta bada kaam karega,” Farooq crooned, borrowing the chart-buster from Aamir Khan’s debut film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. The teenybopper love story ends in tragedy, the girl (played by Juhi Chawla) mistakenly killed by a hitman hired by her father, after which the character played by Aamir kills himself.

The theatrical Abdullah, whose penchant for rubbing shoulders with Bollywood is well known and who once buzzed around Srinagar with a pillion-riding actress, did not show any sign of the confusion that marked the day the poll results were announced. A series of somersaults then had lent credibility to speculation that the veteran was reluctant to give way to his son.

“He (Omar) will give a transparent government to the state,” Farooq said today.

The father did not forget to send another lyrical message to the son. “Kaam hai mushkil par beta naam karega... (the work is difficult but the son will accomplish it).”