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Maniesh Paul to Jay Bhanushali: Celebs recall their fond Holi memories

Now, the festival of colours is more about indulging in delicacies and chilling with family and friends

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From throwing water balloons at unsuspecting passers-by to dunking friends in water pools filled with colours, we’ve done it all as kids. But over the years, the importance of conserving water and the ill-effects of chemicals in colours, has made many of us turn to playing an eco-friendly Holi. Now, the festival of colours is more about indulging in delicacies and chilling with family and friends. Here’s a look at how some of our favourite celebs celebrated Holi then and now...

Maniesh Paul
Actor

Earlier, when I used to stay in Delhi I remember market mein koi aisa colour nahi hota tha jo mere face pe nahi ho. I used to fill water in the balloons and keep it in the freezer and then throw them ice-cold on people. I have even thrown eggs! But that was a long time ago. Now, Holi is more of a get-together. Also, one has become more conscious of the environment, so we make it a point to play dry Holi. Now, we play Holi with flowers, because my daughter loves them. Even in Delhi, the kids in my family have become eco-conscious. As I said, now all friends and family members meet and have a feast on Holi. My mother is a brilliant cook and makes awesome chole bhature and gujiya. But this time, I will be in Mumbai, so will miss that!

Kunal Kapur
Chef

During my growing up years, my friends and I would make a mud pond in the garden and have fun dunking one another in it. We would play Holi with strong colours till the time we were not recognisable. However, now the city life does not allow such an elaborate affair. I like to play Holi with my son in the morning and then gorge on delicious homemade delicacies. In the evening, it’s mostly catching up with family and friends.

Benny Dayal
Singer

I’ve always stayed away from playing Holi because I endorse preservation of water. Over the years, I have indulged in the festival because of events I perform in. But again, it’s as minimal as putting a tilak on my forehead. As eco-friendly as it can get, that’s my mantra. I’d prefer that everyone’s having a blast on the music with minimal water wastage.


Maniesh Paul, Kunal Kapur, Benny Dayal, Sucheta Sharma James, Nikhil Thampi and Jay Bhanushali

Sucheta Sharma James
Model

My favourite Holi memory is from my childhood when I saw my dad getting into a white kurta pyjama with sweets in one hand and gulaal in the other. I saw him greeting everyone no matter what caste or religion, wishing them well in their lives and distributing sweets. Something so simple, beautiful and with no barriers in mind, absolutely noise-free! I urge people to go green, don’t use chemicals, don’t celebrate on the roads, don’t make noise, respect stray animals around and no eve-teasing. I don’t play Holi now, but I do celebrate the holiday by being with my husband, eating yummy home-cooked food and watching movies/TV series at home or by playing on the PS4.

Nikhil Thampi
Designer

My grandfather was an ardent Shiva follower and believer, so Holi was a big deal always in our family. But the most memorable was when my grandfather tricked us kids and gave us our first glass of bhaang. What an epic Holi it turned out to be! We laughed and danced for 12 hours and slept for the next 24 hours.

Amish Tripathi
Author

As a child, growing up in Orissa, I used to play with colours and pichkari with all my friends. Then when I was around 12-13, we shifted to Mumbai and the Holi celebrations continued, with the new friends I made here. Those were simpler days. Now, for the past two years, I play Holi with my kid, who enjoys it. We play with dry colours.

Sachin Jigar
Music composers

As kids, we celebrated Holi with our entire extended family. There was loads of merrymaking with a variety of gourmet, colours and music. It was a day-long affair but today, because of the constant hustle, we are most of the times in the studio dishing out new music rather than celebrating with colours. Now, we let our children do all the merrymaking on our behalf.

Neeti Mohan
Singer

Holi, when I was younger, was a simpler affair. It was all about the simple joys of life and nothing really complicated and fancy. Today, when I celebrate Holi, I still like to maintain that rawness and spirit. Nothing has changed over the years.

Jasleen Royal
Musician

During my childhood days, Holi was one festival that I enjoyed the most. I made it a point to spend the festival at my cousin’s house in Dehradun. I was not too much into colours back then but I enjoyed playing Holi with water and water balloons. My cousins and I made water balloons a day before and then attacked anyone passing our street the next day. We went to mango orchards around our house and played Holi the whole day. We carried food along so once we got tired, we sat down to eat. These days it is much more mellow. No balloons and all. It is difficult to take out time these days to play Holi. But when I do, it is a little bit of colour and more of the delicacies prepared at my place.

Deepti Gujral
Model

I have never played Holi in my life. Somehow I haven’t been very interested in it. Usually on Holi day, I’m either working or I’m sitting at home watching movies. I haven’t really got the opportunity to play and then once I grew up, I grew out of it. The only thing that interests me is the bhaang. I’ve tried Thandai before but never with bhaang in it. This Holi too, I’ll probably be at home resting as I’ve been travelling a lot.

Kunal Rawal
Designer

Holi parties which also involved a lot of rain dance was a family tradition. My dad used to host them and later I started throwing them but stopped four or five years ago. I always remember 200 to 300 people coming over enjoying proper rain dances, showers, tubs, guns, balloons, crazy music, booze and bhaang. I even asked my first girlfriend out at one of the Holi parties. The last one I threw was five years ago which extended partially into the interiors of my house. It got a little chaotic but was fun nonetheless. We had put plastic sheets in my hall and there was a DJ playing in my hall. I have very positive Holi memories. However, today it’s just become another day off and it’s no fun without water. The dry colour in our kind of climate doesn’t really work well for most of us.

Vicky Ratnani
Chef

In those days Holi was celebrated with colour laden water balloons and oil pints. It used to be more wild with maximum colour on our faces. We would dunk our friends in huge tubs of water. Holi today is celebrated in a more mature manner with eco-friendly colours made usually of sandalwood, which is much more refined. We are conscious about water wastage and thus celebrate a dry Holi.

Jay Bhanushali
Actor

When I was a kid, we used to start playing Holi 10 days before the festival. On the main day, we used to play not only with colours but also throw eggs and whatever we used to get. Now, I have sobered down. With the scare of people coming home and destroying the place, I go down and play with my friends in the building. Holi is one festival where you can bring out the child in you and behave like one.

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