As actress Shefali Shah’s son, Aryaman Shah, celebrated his 24th birthday on Tuesday, she shared an emotional note for him on social media.
Shefali posted a heartfelt message along with a lovely picture of Aryaman on Instagram: “I love you more than I can express in words, so I’m not even going to try. Happy Happy Happy 24th birthday my son shine baby. I love you @aryamanshah more than anything ever. And honestly, it’s just as simple as that,” complemented by several hug emojis.
For those unfamiliar, Shefali was married to television actor Harsh Chhaya from 1994 to 2000. In December 2000, she married director Vipul Amrutlal Shah. She is now a proud mother to two sons, Aryaman and Maurya.
Shefali’s social media is a mix of her personal reflections and professional updates. Recently, she shared a poignant memory from Christmas that shook her belief in childhood magic.
She recalled, “That Christmas Eve is sharply etched in my memory. I must’ve been 12 or 13. One spoilsport uncle said to me, ‘You don’t actually believe there is a Santa, right? There is no Santa. It’s just your parents leaving gifts for you’. This statement was a colossal blow to my naive, innocent heart. My disbelief at what he said was mammoth. My arguments of how he was wrong. Me trying to convince him, and more myself, that Santa was real. I cannot begin to tell you what I felt. It was something within me separated from my heart. I tried holding onto it, clutching, grasping, hanging on to this fragile hope, but some idiot had put a pin in my full-of-belief floating balloon.”
Shefali continued, “With Santa gone, that child in me too left. But when I had my kids, the spirit of stories and tales and magic came back. Yes, we were the Santas, but the gift of innocence and possibilities was revived. I tried to keep that world alive for them as long as I could. But eventually, they outgrew it.”