Holi Nostalgia! Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hai cast talks about their fondest memories

Saumya Tandon

Holi is here! And with it come colourful childhood memories. The cast of Benifer and Sanjay Kohli's Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hai shares their best memories of the festival.

Shubhangi Atre
There's a funny childhood memory of Holi I'd like to share. I come from MP and it used to be cold over there during Holi. So my papa used to keep lukewarm water for all my sisters and me in a tank outside. Whenever any of our friends used to come to play Holi, he used to say, 'Please don't use cold water, they'll fall sick. Please use warm water.' All my friends would laugh a lot. Now that we have grown up, we understand that only a father can think so much about his daughters. I am going to play Holi this year and have loads of fun by drinking bhaang and just have a fun-filled gala time. It's sad but the meaning of Holi has really changed. The wild, rash and dirty Holi that's played in small towns are horrible. I feel that's very bad and I don't like it. Boys get a license to touch or even tease a girl, which is very wrong. I like the filmy Holi very much. These festivals are there to spend time and make precious memories with your family and friends. These are all ways to spread happiness. Today we all are very busy in our personal lives, so festivals are mainly to make you happy and steal some precious moments for yourself and your family.

Soma Rathod
As a child, I always loved playing Holi. But slowly, when my friends started putting colour on my face and in my eyes, I stopped playing Holi. Now I enjoy seeing people playing Holi. I will not be doing anything much this year. I will just be staying at home and making some tasty delicacies and enjoy eating them. Holi celebrations have changed a lot today. When we were small, kids used to go to each other's house and play Holi and enjoy each other's home-made food and this went on for the whole day. But now it has changed a lot as people pay more attention to drinks.

Soumya Tandon
My favourite memory of Holi has always been less of colours. It is very different than how Holi is played today in big cities. I lived in a small town and I remember we used to play Holi with 'Tesu ke phool', that's from where the colours were traditionally extracted. The city I lived in used to have these huge 'Tesu ke phool' trees. We used to immerse the flowers in water to get that colour and we used to play with that colour. Now, this idea is almost extinct as we don't even have trees in our cities. I remember my mother making a lot of dishes which are probably unheard of in places like Bombay and Delhi. We used to make 'Kanji' which was 'Raai ka pani', 'Hare channe ki barfi', Gujiya. We had lots of time to make and prepare these things, weeks in advance. We used to visit each and every person's house. Eat and play with those traditional colours which were harmless and beautiful. Preparing those colours was also a process in itself. I don't like Holi in current form. I don't like playing Holi with wild and harsh chemical colours as it's very bad for my skin. So I don't enjoy Holi that is played today. I really don't know what my plan for this year is. I don't play Holi at all. I don't fancy playing Holi now as we work almost every day and hardly get any day off. I am going to take it easy and be at home the whole day. I'll finish my other household errands if I get the day off. Otherwise, if I am shooting, I'll be shooting that day too. We do plan to have a Holi episode in our show which I don't really know when are we shooting, so that's the only time if I will play with colours.

Rohitash Gaud
Holi brings back so many memories. When I was in the 11th standard, my dad made sure I opted for non-medical as my maths and science were very weak. One day in school when there was a Holi celebration, in anger, I put some sort of a permanent colour on my maths teacher's face, which didn't go even after several days and he couldn't even say anything. This is one of my favourite childhood memory. This time I'll celebrate Holi with my family by playing Holi in morning and then will go out for dinner in the evening.

Aasif Sheikh
Favourite childhood memory was when I was in Varanasi, that time the Dwivedi family used to live next to our house. Holi was a very big festival for them. They would really celebrate it in a proper way. Their preparations for the festival started 3 days earlier only when they started it with making sweets and delicacies like gujiya's, aloo ki sabzi, puri, kachori for Holi. I really loved those things and those 3 to 4 days, we all used to be at their house on Holi. On the day of Holi, they all used to play real and proper Holi where the colour used didn't go from any of our faces even after many weeks. Those memories are really good ones in my life as I was very close to that family. My sisters and I used to enjoy Holi a lot at their place. But when I grew up and started playing Holi with my friends that time I remember clearly during one Holi, somebody had put acid in my hair and face. Due to which my hair and face got burned. After that, I really stopped playing Holi. Usually, we play Holi on set with colours, but this time I'll be at home on Holi and then in evening, I have some friends so we'll have a nice musical evening and have a sort of get-together which we have every Holi. I, Siddharth Sen Gupta and other friends all meet up at his place every year on Holi where we have a nice musical evening.

Aasif Sheikh
Now definition has changed in terms of outlook towards Holi. Earlier, we used to look forward to Holi and be excited about the same. Like playing with colours, water balloons, pichkaris but now only a small tilak on forehead signifies Holi. but I like to see people playing Holi by sitting or standing by my window at home which is a lot of fun. Message to my fans would be to play a dry and safe Holi by not wasting water as its very scarce now and have a good time.