Happy birthday Aarav: The teenaged son of actor Akshay Kumar and author Twinkle Khanna turns 18 on Tuesday. On his special day, here’s what his famous parents have said about him.

Actor Akshay Kumar and writer Twinkle Khanna’s son Aarav turns 18 on Tuesday. Like all other star kids, there is a lot of excitement about Aarav too, but the couple has successfully managed to keep their children away from the glare of the glamour world.
Aarav with his famous parents, Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna.

However, that has not stopped media from asking them questions about Aarav. Akshay is often asked if his son will follow in his footsteps, while mom Twinkle sometimes shares fun moments with her kids. In all these little nuggets, the big story that emerges is this – while Akshay has a more philosophical and reflective approach to parenting, Twinkle lightens things up with her jokes.

Aarav comes across as shy and as someone who is not too fond of all the attention he might get as a star kid. Speaking about his son to adventure enthusiast and host Bear Grylls of Discovery’s Into the Wild with Bear Grylls, Akshay said that his son was different from him. “My son is very different. He just doesn’t want to tell anyone that he’s my son. He wants to be away from the limelight. He wants to have his own identity. That’s what the whole thing and I understand it. So, I let him be the way he wants to (sic).”

The one question that Akshay frequently gets asked is when his son would make his Bollywood debut. Speaking to Hindustan Times in 2018, Akshay had said: “He is just a 16-year-old kid, who is enjoying his life. There’s no need to discuss his career right now and put pressure on him. I feel that [kids feeling pressure] will happen only if the parents – in a way – put some kind of burden. I am very clear that whether my kids want to become a painter, doctor or open a restaurant, I am fine. My dad never put any pressure on me. He was like, ‘if you’re interested in sports and karate; and want to be like Bruce Lee, go for it. But become at least half a Bruce Lee (laughs).’ Aaj wahi cheez kaam aayi na mere.”

Akshay is quite clear that when it comes to knowledge, his son is way ahead of him. Speaking to Mumbai Mirror last year, around the time of the release of Mission Mangal, he had joked, “We don’t discuss, he tells me things. It’s a different learning experience. My son is like my science teacher.”

Over the years, Akshay’s birthday wishes for his son reveal the wise father and son bonding that they share. Wishing his son, he had once written: “One thing which I learnt from my father was if I ever mess up,he’d be my go-to person instead of ‘Oh no!Dad’s going to kill me.’ Today, being on your speed dial makes me feel I’m doing it right 🙂 I’ll always be besides you to guide you. Happy birthday Aarav.”

At another time, Akshay had said: “From teaching you how to climb a tree, to learning from you how to make a video call…Happy birthday to my favoritest human being.”

With Twinkle, however, there is no way one can escape her trademark humour. Her many posts on her son show that the mother and son relationship is a lot lighter. Only this June, she had shared a picture of herself taking a 4 pm nap, which her son had surreptitiously taken. She had promised that she would get back at him. Twinkle had written: “My son crept up and took this picture today. The little one and I were meant to be studying and reading together when I have fallen asleep with a pencil in my hand! Is it just me going through this peculiar phase where everyday around 4pm the brain just fogs up? #IWillGetYouForThisBhatiaBoy.”

More recently, on August 20, she had shared a picture of herself standing in front of a police van and revealed how her son had saved her number on his phone as ‘Police’. She wrote: “Considering my son has saved my number as ‘Police’ on his phone I suppose this is rather apt :).”

Looks like Akshay may be different temperamentally from his son, but some interests are common – one of them being cooking. Only this May, sharing a picture of a chocolate brownie made by Aarav, Twinkle had joked how she had no idea at the time of giving birth to him that she was bringing into this world a future chef. She wrote: “When I had a bun in the oven, I did not know I was going to push out a future baker. I produced him and seventeen years later he produced this Chocolate brownie cake with cherry compote. #ProudMomMoment.” When a food writer commented to the post, “in the genes”, Twinkle clarified, “Not from my side clearly.”

Well, Aarav does have much of mom’s likes and dislikes as well. Last year, on a holiday abroad, an elated Twinkle had said she was happy that her son had grown up and was keen on visiting museums. She wrote: “The tables have turned-This summer my son is the one wanting to go to museums instead of me having to drag him to one! #mangaexhibition #discovernewthingseveryday #art.” In the picture, the mother-son duo is seen sitting on a flight of stairs with an advertisement of a museum in the backdrop.