The BIG Splash

For Imran Khan,it was an impromptu party as his shoot of Short Term Shaadi was cancelled because co-star Kareena Kapoor fell ill. Imran,who would have otherwise been working quickly called up his family and partied at wife Avantika8217;s flat where he is presently staying. Holi is one of Imran8217;s favourite festivals,and he does make it a point to celebrate it with friends whenever he is in town.

Sanjay Gupta,Ekta Kapoor and Kiran Bawa co-hosted a huge Holi party at Gupta8217;s building lawns. The guests included Rohit Roy and wife Mansi,Deepshika,Bappa Lahiri,Divya Dutta,Piyush Jha,Gulshan Grover,Vishal Bhardwaj with wife Rekha,Deepa Sahi and Sudhir Mishra. Kiran made sure the guests were well fed with Arabic food from her speciality restaurant bistro grill,and also had masseurs from her spa IOSIS to indulge the guests in foot reflexology and other massages. Sanjay Gupta was busy dousing everyone with water from a water jet and dumping people into a tub full of coloured water as wine,beer and bhaang flowed freely.

Amrita Arora Lakadwala and her husband Shakeel had Arbaaz Khan, Ritesh Sidhwani,Farhan Aktar and Suzanne Khan at their do in Bandra,Mumbai.

In South Mumbai a grand musical Holi was organised by Vikash Verma of G7 Securities where Shekhar Suman regaled the guests with a musical performance. Suniel Shetty and wife Mana, Poonam Dhillon,singer Jaspinder Narula,and director Ashoke Pandit were also seen participating in the festivities.

Amongst the other B-towners there were several actors who were either shooting,or travelling and missed the fun. Vivek Oberoi and wife Priyanka were in France attending a friend8217;s wedding,while Ajay Devgn was in Goa shooting for Singham. Sanjay Dutt and family stayed away from the celebrations while Kareena Kapoor was unwell and Saif Ali Khan was in Delhi shooting for Agent Vinod. Salman Khan,it seems, preferred to spend the day at his Panvel farm and Lara Dutta was busy for a magazine shoot. Neil Nitin Mukesh had a family get-together Bobby Deol and Tusshar Kapoor promoted their films with a Holi message for some television channels. Sunny Deol,who was just back from Varanasi after shooting for Mohalla Assi, preffered to spend time with dad Dharmendra at home.

Looking back,things seemed to have cooled off a little since the time Raj Kapoor had the first ever Holi celebration at the RK Studio. Hosted by the late Raj Kapoor and his sons,the hospitality and lavishness of the Kapoor khandaan is still spoken about. It8217;s said that samosas,jalebis and bhaang were mandatory at the party which was attended by the likes of Dilip Kumar,Shankar-Jaikishen,Mukesh,Manmohan Desai,Pran,Premnath,the Bachchans,and reflected the camaraderie between members of the film fraternity. The celebrations discontinued after the showman8217;s death. I used to attend the Holi parties at RK Studios but now this trend of the entire industry celebrating together is phasing off, remembers Anil Kapoor.

S. Mukerjis bungalow Grotto Villa was another centre where the whole Mukerji clan,including Subodh,Ram,Rono,Joy,Somu,Tanuja and Deb gathered for the colourful celebrations while the young Kajol and Rani splashed around unnoticed. Yesteryear actress Tabassum recalls some fun filled Holi bashes at actor Pran8217;s place,while the late B. R. Chopra also celebrated the festival of colours at his bungalow. His parties are remembered for the sumptuous food. His brother Yash Chopra,after starting his own company,continued celebrating the festival at his bungalow,but had them only for a few years. Raj Babbar is also known to have regular Holi bashes and continues to have them at his Juhu bungalow.

As Subhash Ghai emerged as another showman, his bungalow at Madh Island in Mumbai emerged as the new Holi venue where every guest was dunked in a pond of colour water.

Soon Amitabh Bachchan8217;s Holi bashes at his Juhu bungalow,Prateeksha,were regarded as the most happening. Amitabh and Jaya greeted the guest at the entrance with a red tikka and the party included tanks of water in which people were doused and a magnificent spread of food,drinks and bhaang followed. I remember being invited to the Bachchans Holi party 10 years ago. Within minutes of arriving there,you couldnt recognise anyone, recalls Tusshar Kapoor. Of late,the Bachchans may have been erratic in their annual celebration of Holi,but they still enjoy the spirit of this festival of colours anyway.

It was then that Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar decided to hold their Holi parties. Touted as a huge hit,many celebrities landed up at the do where the hosts colour theme was white with colorful turbans for a Mathura look and to protect their hair. Shilpa Shetty and hubby Raj Kundra held their first Holi party in 2009. It was a party in which the thandai replaced the bhaang,and the colours used were organic. It was attended by the Who8217;s Who of the film,television and cricket!