When I Attended The Bachchans’ Holi Party

The
Bachchan
family
have
this
knack
of
going
out
of
their
way
to
make
you
feel
extremely
comfortable.

In
the
1990s,
Amitabh
Bachchan
would
hold
a
grand
Holi
party
at
his
bungalow

Pratiksha,
which
would
serve
as
a
welcome
occasion
for
the
film
industry
to
get
together
and
let
their
hair
down.

Dinesh
Raheja
recalls
one
such
party
in
1994
that
he
attended,
and
how
it
played
out.

My
brand
new
pair
of
jeans
is
stained
beyond

dhulai
and
Ariel,
and
so
is
a
T-shirt
which
was
gifted
by
my
garment
exporter
brother
and
which
I
had
worn
just
once.
The
colours
of
Holi
at
Amitabh
Bachchan’s
famous
festive
celebrations
just
won’t
come
off.

Hua
yeh,
that
a
couple
of
days
before
Holi,
Amitabh,
in
his
baritone
boom,
called
to
invite
me
to
play
Holi
at
his
residence.

I
couldn’t
say
no
to
Amitabh
even
though
for
the
past
few
years
I
have
stopped
playing
Holi,
restricting
it
to
throwing
water
with
my
eight-year-old
daughter
from
my
eighth
floor
balcony,
on
unsuspecting
passers
by.
(‘Papa,
we
can’t
have

daya
on
everyone,
then
who
will
we
throw
at?’)

On
D-day,
when
I
was
trying
to
get
into
my

joona-purana
kapdas,
my
family
froze.

‘You
can’t
go
to
Amitabh’s
house
in
rags
even
if
it’s
Holi!’

So,
reluctantly,
my
brand
new
jeans
and
T-shirt
were
risked.

Outside

Pratiksha,
Amitabh’s
residence,
the

janta
was
desperately
trying
to
clamber
over
the
bungalow’s
tall
boundary
wall
for
a
glimpse
of
the
tall
superstar.
That
is
till
the
police

lathi
charged
them
and
made
them
run
helter-skelter.

Safely
escorted
inside,
I
saw
Amitabh
dancing
to

Rang
Barse
(hardly
a
surprise)
with
Manoj
Desai
(the
producer
of
his
film

Khuda
Gawah),
Master
Mayur
and
Bunty
Behl
etc.

Jaya
Bachchan
was
guarding
a
row
of

thalis
with
saffron,
green,
and
red

gulaal.

Each
time,
she
saw
me
without
a
glass
she
would
ask,
‘Where
is
your
drink?’

Yes,
a
make-shift
bar
with
drinks
ranging
from

bhaang
to
beer
and
Bacardi
was
the
most
sought
after
corner.

Kirron
Kher
came
very
sober
but
two
glasses
of

bhaang
down
and
she
was
in
her
element.
She
missed
having
husband
Anupam
Kher
around
but
danced,
laughed
and
made
some
really
hilarious
but
unprintable
comments.

Gauri
Khan
came
with
her
friend
Deanne
Panday
sans
Shah
Rukh
Khan.

Javed
Akhtar
came
with
wife
Shabana
Azmi,
his
ex-wife
Honey
Irani
with
her
boyfriend.

Dimple
Kapadia-Sunny
Deol
stole
in
and
stole
out
after
she
was
given
a
dunking
in
the
colourful
Holi
pond.

Hema
Malini
turned
up
two
hours
later
in
a
spotless
white

churidar-kurta
and
went
back
just
as
spotless
because
very
few
have
the
courage
to
give
Hema
Malini
a
dunking.

Twinkle
Khanna
stayed
back
with
boyfriend
Abhishek
Kapoor,
forming
a
group
of
the
cool
young
ones
with
Abhishek
and
Shweta
Bachchan
Nanda
and
Srishti
Behl
(daughter
of
filmmaker
Ramesh
Behl
of
Amitabh
films
like

Kasme
Vaade
and

Pukar).

Karisma
Kapoor
ran
with
a

thali
of

gulaal
after
her

Saajan
Chale
Sasural
co-star
Tabu,
who
easily
outpaced
her.
An
amused
Dabboo
Kapoor
indulgently
watched
their
antics.

Aamir
Khan
headed
straight
for
the
open-air
shower
on
the
grounds,
instead
of
the
dunking.
A
comfortably
seated
guest
suddenly
perked
up
for
the
first
time
and
jokingly
expressed
her
desire
to
join
him
there.

Dotting
the
extensive
but
not
enormous
grounds
of
the
bungalow
were
a
sprinkling
of
stars
Madhuri
Dixit,
Subhash
Ghai,
Kumar
Gaurav,
Chunky
Panday,
Ranjeet
and
wife,
Sanjay
Kapoor,
Farah,
Vindoo,
Vivek
Mushran,
Pankaj
and
Supriya
Pathak,
Anooradha
Patel
and
Kanwaljit
Singh
and
also

chhota-motas
galore.

Since
my
yardstick
for
a
fun
evening
is
never
the
crowd,
I
had
a
ball.
So
did
the
Bachchan.

He
sat
with
the

dholak-bajawallahs
and
along
with
Annu
Kapoor,
sang,
and
listened
attentively
to
some
qawwalis
and
folksy
songs,
strictly
non-filmi.

Choli
Ke
Peeche
was
the
favourite
of
the
other
music
group,
the

bandbaaja
variety,
with
Amitabh’s
daughter
Shweta
dancing
away
in
full
form
only
to
retire
shyly
in
the
background
when
her
favourite
Aamir
took
centrestage
with
his
moves.

There
was
a

hungama
twice.

Once,
when
‘Chi-Chi

bhaiya‘
(Amitabh’s
description
for
Govinda)
danced
with
‘Amitabh
sir’
(Govinda’s
description
for
Amitabh)
and
a
sporting
Reena
Roy.

The
other
time
there
was
a

hungama
again
when
Govinda,
having
deposited
wife
Sunita
and
kid
back
at
home,
returned
for
a
second
round
of
dancing
with
Chunky.

The
Bachchan
family
have
this
knack
of
going
out
of
their
way
to
make
you
feel
extremely
comfortable.

When
I
waved
out
to
Amitabh
signalling
that
I
was
leaving,
he
was
sitting
with
the

dholak-wallah
and
there
was
Manoj
Kumar
crouching
next
to
him.

He
shouted
back
at
me,
‘If
you
leave
without
eating
lunch,
I’ll
shoot
you.’

Goli
for
Holi?

Photographs
curated
by
Satish
Bodas/Rediff.com