Touted as the King of Pop, Michael Jackson rose to fame in the ‘80s with his chartbuster tracks like “Thriller” and “Bad” and soon became a global phenomenon with endless tributes, spoofs and parodies around the world.
Indian cinema was no different and Michael’s presence was felt in a lot of movies and dance numbers including Govinda’s “Pak Chik Pak Raja Babu” from 1994 movie Raja Babu or several of the dance numbers by Mithun Chakraborty, Jaaved Jaaferi, Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Johnny Lever and even Nawazuddin Siddiqui etc.
The pop star who passed away in 2009 at the age of 50 is once again making the headlines thanks to the release of his biopic titled Michael where his nephew Jaafar Jackson plays the King of Pop.
© Lionsgate Films
While the Antoine Fuqua directed biopic is now wreaking havoc at the worldwide box office, here’s a throwback to the nine Bollywood celebs who met Michael Jackson in real life.
10 Bollywood Celebs Who Met Michael Jackson Sonali Bendre
© MJ Vibe
Sonali Bendre was the one who received and welcomed Michael Jackson at the Mumbai airport during his HIStory World Tour in 1996.
Recalling her experience of meeting Michael, Bendre stated in an interview with ANI that she had one condition, “I was like, okay, but then I want great tickets for the show and all of that with my friends. So I did it because I was getting these tickets to enter where I could take my friends and go to the show. My sister, sister’s friends and all of that. We had this great seating. That’s what I was so excited about when I did it.”
Anupam KherAnupam Kher had talked about meeting Michael multiple times and recently he shared their picture again on social media and wrote, “Dearest Michael Jackson, This photograph is not just a memory… it is a feeling frozen in time. I still remember the moment I shook your hand. For that brief second, the fanboy in me took over completely.
It was surreal… almost unbelievable… like touching a piece of magic. You were not just an artist. You were an experience. A phenomenon that the world may never witness again. There will truly be nobody like you for the next thousand years. Nobody.”
He added, “We are blessed… deeply blessed… that you walked this earth and touched millions of lives with your art, your innocence, and your genius. You were, and will always remain, the eighth wonder of the world. And yes… somewhere it pains me that even today, there are people who choose to carry poison instead of celebrating purity. But greatness like yours rises far above noise and negativity. You were God’s gift to mankind. Wherever you are… may you be dancing, creating, and smiling. Jai Ho!”
Check out his post below:
Jaaved Jaaferi
Dearest Michael Jackson,
— Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) April 24, 2026
This photograph is not just a memory… it is a feeling frozen in time.🥹🥹
I still remember the moment I shook your hand. For that brief second, the fanboy in me took over completely.
It was surreal… almost unbelievable… like touching a piece of magic.… pic.twitter.com/TGzesvVf6J
Actor and dancer Jaaved Jaaferi who is often said to be inspired by Michael Jackson met the King of Pop in 1999 during an award function in New York.
Recalling his meeting, Jaaved Jaaferi said in an episode of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa 11, “There was an award function in New York where he was being honoured by the Indian society. He came on the stage and there was no one except me as I was hosting the show. At that moment as he came up, I was like ‘I won’t let him go’ and I asked ‘Can I give you a hug?’ and he said ‘Yes, of course’. He lovingly hugged me. It was a very special moment because Michael Jackson hugged me. So it will remain with me forever. I introduced him on the stage and he said ‘Oh, you did a wonderful job. Thank you’. I said ‘It’s a big thing for me’. He is on a different level”.
Check out the clip from the event below:
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While there is no picture or footage of Shah Rukh Khan and Michael Jackson in the same frame, both were present at the same stage of an award function where Jaaved Jaaferi was the host.
In fact, right after Michael left the stage, Shah Rukh was called and he jokingly kissed the dais because the King of Pop was just here.
Check out the clip below:
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Right after Michael Jackson passed away in 2009, Amitabh Bachchan took to his blog and shared a lesser-known tale of his chance encounter with the popstar.
He wrote that he was staying at the Helmsley Palace Hotel when someone rang his doorbell, “There, as I stood in the doorway, across me was Michael Jackson" who had accidentally knocked on the wrong door.
Realising the goof-up, the soft-spoken singer said, “Oh! Excuse me! I think I have the wrong room”.
Bachchan further recalled Michael as “soft-spoken, very humble and most polite.”
Bappi Lahiri
© BCCL
Music composer and singer Bappi Lahiri met Michael Jackson in 1996 when he had come to Mumbai.
Sharing his experience, he told Kapil Sharma on his show, “Jab woh Bombay mein aaye the, main ek jagah pe baitha tha. Michael Jackson aaye aur mera yeh gold chain, Ganpati wala, unko bohot nazar aaya. Unhone bola, ‘Oh my God, fantastic! What’s your name?’ Maine kaha Bappi Lahiri (When he had come to Mumbai, he came up to me and noticed my gold chain with a Ganpati pendant. He said, ‘Oh my God, fantastic! What’s your name?’ I introduced myself). He asked, ‘You’re a composer?’ I said, ‘Yes, I have done Disco Dancer.’ Jaise hi Disco Dancer bola, woh bole (As soon as I said Disco Dancer, he said), ‘I like your song Jimmy Jimmy.’”
Bappi in another interview with Indian Express recalled that he initially thought of giving his Ganpati idol gold chain to Michael but then thought “He (MJ) has everything, whereas I have only this gold that is lucky for me. There was one more thing — I was born in Kolkata but it is the soil of Maharashtra that gave me its blessing. If I gave Michael the Ganesh, then maybe the blessing would leave me too.”
AR RahmanIn a 2009 interview with IBNLive, AR Rahman was asked about his meeting with Michael Jackson and he recalled, “Every musician would wait for a Michael Jackson album to come out. It comes once in five years. We get hooked on it so much that it stays with us for the rest of our lives. I was supposed to me Michael during a concert in 1999 for helping Africa. He had a mishap on that concert, so I couldn’t meet him.”
He continued, “After nine years when I went to Los Angeles, my agent said I’m going to meet Randy – who manages Michael – so I asked if I could meet him? My agent mailed Randy asking if he wanted to meet me, three days before the Oscars we got an email saying Michael wants to meet me.”
And added, “So I met him after the Oscars finished, won the Oscars and went to meet him. We thought the meeting would be five minutes, it lasted two hours. We just sat and he spoke about the chord progression of what I’ve written. I told him that India adores Michael Jackson. I told him how we all grew up on his music and he said ‘you’re very kind’. I met his children, he introduced me to them.
He called me three-four times when I was in Chennai. When I met him again he asked me to do a song on the lines of We are the world for him. He said I could conduct the whole thing. I was shocked. But before we could get into that he started going to the rehearsals. The next thing I get to hear is that he’s dead. It was a real shocker.”
Hrithik Roshan and Rakesh RoshanThe father-son duo met Michael Jackson during the filming of Kites in 2008. It so happened that Michael was scheduled to shoot at the same venue as Hrithik was already filming.
According to Bombay Times, Hrithik said, “I've been a huge Jackson fan since childhood. So dad requested the mansion owner that we'd like to come over and meet Jackson. Instead, he turned up in the room to meet us. That meeting is etched in my memory,”
He added, “I was in my makeup room when two bodyguards came in, followed by a slender, pale man with long hair. Glancing at the mirror, I thought… this must be Michael Jackson… then he approached me saying, ‘Hi, I am Michael, nice to meet you.”
During chat show with Farhan Akhter, Hrithik further recalled, “He (MJ) shook my hand. He went. I went back to my makeup. Suddenly, after two minutes, I realise what I am doing. What am I doing here if Michael Jackson is in the next room?. It took me time to absorb the fact. When it hit me…I caught up and we took some pictures and all. Big fan of his dance…”
Farah KhanThe filmmaker and choreographer Farah Khan met Michael Jackson in 1999 during the same award show that was hosted by Jaaved Jaaferi. Recalling the meeting, she said, “My guru.. turning point of my life happened when i saw Thriller.. got to meet him in NY 1999..”
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In 2017, she said the same picture with Michael and wrote, “Happy teachers Day! N thats the real MJ not the Madame Tussauds ka putla..circa1999”.
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