COLOURFUL CAPERS

CHANDRACHUR SINGH
I like Holi, but I hate the way some people play it nowadays. They get drunk, use foul language and play with dirt and bad colours. I feel Holi should be celebrated in a good spirit and I wish people would stay away from getting drunk on this occasion.

SHILPA SHETTY
I don’t celebrate Holi anymore. I used to celebrate it as a child, when we used to throw water balloons at each other. Now I feel it’s a rough festival, and not my kind of festival. Anyway, this year I’m not going to be in India for Holi because I’m going abroad for a month for stage shows with Daler Mehndi. But even if I had been in Mumbai, I would have celebrated by sitting quietly at home with my family.

MUKUL DEV
Holi is my favourite festival. But more than the festival itself I love the season. Because Holi falls in the middle of March, in spring when winter is ending and summer is beginning. I like Holi because it is one day when there are no limits on me! I can indulge in things like alcohol and bhang, and nobody minds. Other festivals are celebrated at night but Holi is the only festival which starts in the morning and goes on till evening.

It is the most fun celebrating Holi in Delhi, the city which I come from. There I used to go with a large group of friends in a hired tempo to other people’s houses and we used to have a lot of fun drenching those old, fussy people who would not allow us to apply colours on them! I have realised that in Mumbai, Holi is a more low-key affair. Here you just apply gulal on each other and wish everyone formally. This year I intend to hold a get-together at my place on Holi, or I might fly to Delhi to celebrate it in its full splendour.

TABU
Till last year I used to play Holi regularly at Shabana (Azmi) aunty’s house because they’ve got a huge place to celebrate in. But since last year they’ve stopped celebrating it and so I don’t play Holi anymore either.

BOBBY DEOL
I don’t like Holi. I think nowadays the real spirit of Holi has been lost and many youngsters use it to come closer sexually.

SONALI BENDRE
I am a Maharashtrian and Holi for me means pooran poli! I celebrate it with my family and don’t like to play with colours because they are harmful for the skin.

MADHU
Holi is a festival of lots of happiness and colour. And till last year I used to enjoy it a lot. But not anymore. Of late, it has taken an ugly turn. People use colours which don’t come off for months together. Many colours are made of bad chemicals which are harmful for the skin and make it itch. Last year I had a lot of problems because I couldn’t remove the colours from my hair for two to three months! So from this year I have decided to play Holi without colours. I’m planning to visit people in their houses in the evening when everybody has already played with colours to their heart’s content .

RANI MUKERJI
Of course I like Holi a lot! It is a wonderful festival. People get together and have a lot of fun. But since the last six or seven years I have stopped celebrating it. Initially it was due to exams, because every year when Holi would come around my final exams would be on and I would miss it. But now I feel Holi celebrations have become a dirty affair with people mixing all kinds of bad chemicals in the colours which don’t come off for days together. So I don’t play with colours anymore, but I like watching other people freaking out!