Event

Holi with the Bachchans

Published On: 2012-04-30

Author: unknown

Media Link:

Bachchans Leave Mumbai 'High' & Not Dry In Colourful Holi Bash!


Source: IT Movies

Sundays are normally my days in self-imposed exile. 

I follow the commandment of resting on this day, very very seriously. 

But when another commandment cancels out the ‘R & R’ (Rest and Relaxation) directive, coming from the emperor of filmdom – Amitabh Bachchan himself; dare a man catnap at all? 

It was the holiest of the ‘holi’ of all invitations, to join the Bachchan family in a celebration of colour – after five long years! 

Yes, the holi bash of the Big B and his regal family was a much-vaunted affair; and only those out of bounds or ‘exiled’ by the emperor of tinsel, were not present. 

All roads led to ‘Prateeksha’, his abode in Juhu, as fans, fanzines and fellow idolators converged on the bungalow. 

Hundreds and thousands of fans danced outside on the roads, to the sounds of the music playing inside. 

The walls were covered in bright orange flowers and leaves. But don’t be fooled, this was no free for all. Entry was strictly by invitation, and the police security was as strict as they could get. But it was AB’s personal instruction not to be too harsh on the revelers. In fact he kept sending out large trays of ghujiyas, the traditional Holi mithai for all the fans. 

TV channels had sent out large armies of cameras to record the revelry, which was a landmark event at the Bachchan residence after many years. Yet, most were asked to leave their cameras outside, most welcome without. 

Once inside, it was young Abhishek who was greeting everyone with a traditional tikka and gulal . Then, as you turned in onto the sprawling lawns, the charming and gracious hosts, Jaya and Amitabh themselves, grabbing large amounts of colored powder from huge sacks lining the walls all around, and ‘coloring’ the event in typical rang barse style. 

On the other side, there were large drums of water and pichkaris that were the AK-47 and Bazooka versions of water pistols. The ‘most avoided’ side was where the large tubs of water were kept, where innocents were led, mainly by the mischievous Abhishek and friends, and dunked until they were soaked to the gills. 

Men in white served bhaang in earthen matkis and starters and more; along with every conceivable kind of drink floating around freely. 

On the far side, a buffet lunch was served, but was anyone interested in that? No siree, certainly not. 

Far more delicious things were happening to the beats of the DJ playing the best Holi numbers (at first) and then to the live band belting out the same numbers to loud drumbeats. 

Present in full force and led in the revelry by friend and Samajwadi Party General Secretary, Amar Singh, were the movie industry in large numbers. 

Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee managed to complete their schedule in Punjab with Yash Chopra in quicktime to make it for the bash. And rani was seen trying to lure people to the dance side of the bash. 

Hrithik Roshan, Karan Johar, Gauri Khan, Esha, Mahima, Tara Sharma, Saif, Amrita, Chunky, Shilpa Shetty, Tabu, Javed Jaffrey, Anu Malik, Poonam Dhillon, Bappi Lahiri, Pankaj Udhas, Amitabh Dayal, Rahul Dev, Kiran and Ramesh Sippy, Sanjay Khan, Dharmesh Darshan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Shankar Mahadevan, Jeetendra, Ranjeet, Prem Chopra, Tusshaar Kapoor, Amrish Puri, Om Puri, Rakesh Mehra, Prakash Mehra, Udit Narayan, Raj Kumar Santoshi and Bharat Shah were a few of the hue splattered faces that one could distinguish. 

The non film brigade of well-known faces consisted of Sheetal Malhar, Nina Manuel, Lubna Adams, Neerja Shah, Devika and Suresh Bhojwani and Atul kasbekar to name a few. 

But the star of the show was undoubtedly the highly energetic Amitabh himself. As he danced to tunes ranging from ‘rang barse’ (‘Silsila’) to ‘chali chali phir chali chali …’ (‘Baghbaan’), even going on his knees and gesturing to the ecstatic neighbours who almost fell out of their vantage points in the adjacent balconies, when he danced to them. 

He was perfect host too, to each and everyone present. Ensuring along with Jaya and Abhishek that no one was left unattended – or dry. As the celebrations went on all through the day. 

Maybe it’s just what the industry needs. Some more colour and culture in our lives. 

I must say it was a Sunday well spent. 

It was the coming together of lookalikes - Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Sunny Deol and Anil Kapoor with the one and only original Hrithik Roshan.
And the occasion was to celebrate the colourful festival of Holi, a reason enough to celebrate.