Adaakaron Ka Holi Khelne Ka Andaz

Ali Peter John

Hindi filmdom is woven HOLIstically with vim, vitality and vigor from the nascent era of the 40s.

The Holi festival and the fiesta has always been an integral part of Hindi films either through the cornucopia of colourful songs and sequences ranging from films like Aurat, Holi, Shaadi, Geet Govind of the 40s to the contemporary like Badri Ki Dulhaniya, Jolly LLB, Milan Talkies and or the grand celebrations hosted by some of the big wigs of the industry.

No other Holi festival has influenced the Hindi film fraternity than Holi.

The Holi celebration at the RK Studio in this cosmopolitan city of diverse custom and culture is as famous and talked about as the revelry in Agra ~ Mathura in UP. Stars ranging from those belonging to the family to others, both big and small, in the industry made it a point not to miss the jollification pulsating with zeal, zest, zing and _zindagani_ unheard of anywhere in the city. The _rangat_ and _rangeeniyat_ ended with Raj Kapoor. Memories lingered till even the take over by Godrej of the iconic studio gutted by fire. Both the showman and the Studio flourished by fire and perished by the “not so holi” fire!

The _silsila_ continued and the next most talked about celebration was the one hosted at Pratiksha by the Big _Baghbaan_ who kept the spirit and splendour of  Rang barse_ and _Raghubeera_ alive for a long time. Memories of the bountiful Bachchan bash and the bracing _bhang_ too will stay on forever!

Jeetendra's pairing with heroines half his age was more famous than his partying at the heady Holi bashes that he held till as recently as five years back.

Surprisingly, neither Raj Kapoor's contemporary Dev Anand nor Amitabh Bachchan's concurrent Rajesh Khanna indulged in the celebration of colourful cascade. If at all the two stars celebrated, it was only through the songs in their films: _Piya tose naina laage re_ from Guide and _Tu pee aur jee_ from Des Pardes (of Dev Anand) and _Aaj na chhodenge_ from Kati Patang and _O meri pehle se tang thi choli_ from Soutan.

The colourful Holi festival started losing its vim and vigour with the advent of more colourful stars. Among the stars of the post 80s, one Hero with HOLIstic views who comes to mind is the hero introduced in the film Hero. 'Shabash' for guessing the 'Ghai': Jackie Shroff.

Before he became a hero, the hedonistic _dada_, as he was popularly known, celebrated Holi with his buddies  and _bhidus_

in the Teen Batti chawl where he spent a good part of his growing up years. After he became a star, he celebrated Holi with great pomp and pride at Le Pappilon near Mount Mary, Bandra. The celebrations became as big as the star.

However, after his wife Ayesha made the film Boom (which marked the debut of Katrina Kaif) which boomeranged and bombed at the box office, Jaggu Dada had to sell off his personal belongings and bequests. Thereafter, the celebrations of Jackie became low key!

Some celebrities celebrated the event in their own humble, unobtrusive way without any fanfare. The Melody Queen, Lata Mangeshkar celebrated Holi first in Kolhapur and then in Poona and thereafter in Mumbai and confined it to the family members. However, with advancing age and ailments, there has been no such celebrations in the last fifteen years.

What is interesting to note is hard core communists like Ali Sardar Jafri, Kaifi Azmi and others who lived in the Commune at Madanpura celebrated the Holi festival in a more symbolic way to foster brotherhood, camaraderie and harmony.

The contemporary writer Irshad Kamil laments, "what could be more heartening when keeping aside communal grudges and grievances, people mixed and mingled with each other and their thinking melded and merged with each other the way colours mingled and melded".

And he raises an unanswerable question like " Aaj jab charon taraf khoon ki Holi kheli jaa rahi hai, kya woh daur, woh zamana phir laut aayega, kya woh log phir aayenge pyar mohabbat ka rang lekar? Eensha Allah, shayad aa jaaye ...

Dil naaumeed to nahin, nakaam hi to hai,

Lambi hai gham ki shaam magar, shaam hi to hai"

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Raj Ki Holi, Madanpura, Kaifi Azmi, Irsad Kamil, Holi