MUMBAI: Holi, the festival of colors is right around the corner and our very own actors of Sony Entertainment Television are here to give a sneak peek into this year’s celebration and also share their best Holi memories! Here are popular actors and contestants – Chandni Sharma and Abhishek Rawat from ‘Kaamnaa’; Vidhi Pandya and Vijayendra Kumeria from ‘Mose Chhal Kiye Jaye’, Ismeet Koli and Sahil Phull from ‘Dosti Anokhi’, ‘Punyashlok Ahilyabai’s Aetashaa Sansgiri and Gaurav Amlani and ‘India’s Got Talent’s Ishita Vishwakarma and Rishabh Chaturvedi talking about their plans of celebration this year and also reminisce and take us down memory lane with tales from their childhood.
Chandni Sharma (Akanksha from Kaamnaa) expresses her excitement, “The brightest and the most colorful time of the year is finally here! For the last few years, we’ve desperately waited to celebrate Holi the way we always have. Thankfully, this year we’ll get very close to those memories once again! I look forward to get together with my friends, both reel and real family, and celebrating the festival of Holi. Also, wish all viewers and beloved well-wishers a very Happy Holi!”
Abhishek Rawat (Manav from Kaamnaa) shares, “”Holi is my favorite festival. I enjoy celebrating it and I also have the fondest memories associated with the festival. I remember during my childhood, we used to play Holi with dark colours but as we grew up, we switched to environmentally safe colors. Following the tradition, this year, I will bring in the festival of colors with my daughter and go back to my childhood through her. Here is wishing everyone a safe Holi!”
Vidhi Pandya (Saumya from Mose Chhal Kiye Jaaye) says, “Let the festivities begin! My friends and I are planning a Holi celebration party and I am very excited. It will be fun painting each other’s faces with vibrant but organic colors, especially because most days, we see everyone looking prim and proper. Holi is the festival of happiness, so I wish everyone a fabulous Holi but, also urge people to not put colors on animals as it is harmful to them. To all our fans and well-wishers, I hope you have a Happy and Safe Holi!”
Vijayendra Kumeria (Arman from Mose Chhal Kiye Jaye) shares, “There are a lot of beautiful moments attached with Holi – we’ve attended so many fun parties and shot such beautiful sequences to capture the spirit of the festival. My best memories of the festival, still, are the good old school days when we would play Holi with school friends after class. It’s truly memorable to remember how we would dress in an old uniform to change into a fresh one after playing – none of it has changed, and I really miss those beautiful days! This time we celebrated on sets, and I hope all of you enjoy the Holi sequences as much as we loved shooting them!”
Ishita Vishwakarma (Contestant from India’s Got Talent) expresses with delight, “Holi is one of the major festivals and is the most vibrant of all. The joys of Holi know no bounds and the festival is filled with so much fun and frolic. Every year I and my friends, gather at my place and kick start the celebration by splashing colours and water balloons on each other. However, this year I’m going to celebrate the festival here in Mumbai with my India’s Got Talent family and I’m looking forward to gorging on some Maharashtrian special dishes such as Puran Poli, Katachi Aamti, Phirni and many more which adds to the excitement of this colourful festival. As a message to all my fans, have a safe and happy Holi and please save water”
Rishabh Chaturvedi (Contestant from India’s Got Talent) shares, “I’m very fond of colours and Holi is one such festival where you get to play with colours. It is the time when we must let bygones be bygones and embrace each other with love and compassion. I have some extremely fond memories of Holi, back as a kid it was all about behaving like it’s a war, ninja attacking people with water balloons, and eating traditional delicacies like gujiyas and thandai. This year I don’t have anything special planned for Holi but I’m looking forward to celebrating it with my India’s Got Talent family here in Mumbai. I would request all my fans and viewers to avoid water wastage and have a happy and safe Holi!”
Ismeet Kohli (Purvi from Dosti Anokhi) shares, “To me, Holi signifies celebrating and welcoming the year ahead with a lot of hope in my heart. It’s the time of the year when I enjoy gorging on festive sweets like gujiya. During childhood, we used to wake up early morning, filled our balloons and played with other kids in the colony all day long. I remember the color didn’t get removed and then we used to get lectured from class teacher. Even now, For me every day is a celebration with the cast of Dosti Anokhi and I am glad to have them around… and Holi will be no different. Personally, I always propagate dry holi with organic colors and no water wastage… but this time around, I would urge people to celebrate virtual holi with their loved ones from the safety of their homes.”
Sahil Phull (Kashi from Dosti Anokhi) says, “Holi is a festival of colours that we are all familiar with. It brings back a lot of memories from my youth; the holi we celebrate now is completely different from the holi we used to celebrate as kids. Everyone in my friend’s family and relatives used to come home, and they were all covered in vibrant colours. Pichkaris was quite intense, similar to what we see in movies with a lot of colours. It’s different in Mumbai, too; we didn’t have organic colours back then, but they’re now safe and eco-friendly, making the Holi celebrations a little more subdued. However, I recall attending many parties and having a great time there while celebrating Holi. Holi is particularly meaningful to me because I appreciate seeing people of various castes and religions come together to celebrate this festival and enjoy it. I enjoy the Holi holiday as well. I used to enjoy playing with water and colours as a kid, but as we get older, we realise how vital it is to conserve water and play Holi carefully. In Jammu, I have many favourite holi memories, but in Mumbai, I once visited the Hare Rama Hare Krishna Temple, which was magnificently decorated with lights and colours, and it was so lovely that it would always be one of my favourite holi memories”
Aetashaa Sansgiri (Ahilyabai from Punyashlok Ahilyabai) shares her holi experience. She says, “I think I am a person who celebrates each and every festival in the country. But one thing about holi that I don’t like is throwing water be it water balloons or even pichkari, and this is something I had in my mind since I was a kid. I don’t like it because someone harms someone. But I really love applying colours, during rangapamchami the place I stay there we all come down together and play with colors, people of all ages come over to play holi and it’s a good get-together session as we barely get a chance to meet. And holi how it’s significant to me is that it is the last bit of winter. Also the rosted coconut that we offer for prayers is one of the things I crave for. And especially one of the most important things in holi is deserts especially homemade puranpolis it is the highlight of the festival. I literally loiter in the kitchen, and this has been my breakfast along with milk and ghee. Basically, we all keep hogging on puranpolis the entire week. Lastly, I want to say to the readers, that follow all restrictions and be safe.”
Gaurav Amlani (Khande Rao Holkar from Punyashlok Ahilyabai) shares his holi experience. He says, “The best experience I had was as a kid. The night before my father, my brother along with me, used to have a big bucket of water balloons ready for the next day, and the first one out of the building the next morning would be drenched with those. As kids, it was crazy, the balloon part and then getting wild with colors, staying out the entire day in colours that also drenched, also having a variety of sweets and great food. And apart from this holi in Mumbai was different sometimes I was shooting, and it was like another normal day. Some times have celebrated with friends, but honestly, the actual fun of Holi has gone now. It has become more like a get-together with friends, with good food. He further says that holi now has become more subtle lately from the last few years. But it is still one of my favorite festivals, and I honestly love wearing white during