B’wood Holi specials amp up festive fever

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While Holi is all about colours, sweets, meeting and greeting your loved ones, the festival seems to be incomplete without a heady dose of Holi songs. Our films have time and again celebrated the spirit of this colourful festival through a variety of songs.

Whether it’s Amitabh Bachchan in the ultimate Holi song Rang Barse from Silsila or Sholay’s Holi Ke Din featuring the love story between Dharmendra and his love Hema Malini or the classic number from Navrang, Arre Ja Re Hatt Natkhat, or the more recent ones like Do Me a Favour, Let’s Play Holi and the very latest remix of the Holiya Mein Ude Re Gulaal by Bappi Lahiri and Jazzy B, each song has us grooving to the tunes of it. We talk to celebrities who pick their favourite Holi song and share the memories associated with it.
Actor Shruti Seth loved the way Amitabh Bachchan sang the song and played an intoxicated flirt in Rang Barse. “When I hear ‘Holi’, Rang Barse plays in my head. Any Holi celebration is incomplete without it,” she says.
Entrepreneur Riyaaz Amlani finds it to be a witty song that instantly sets the mood for Holi. The added charm is Big B’s voice.
Lyricist Swanand Kirkire also picks Rang Barse as his favourite. He adds, “It’s good, it’s folk, it’s naughty and it’s sung superbly.”
For actor Vinay Pathak, Holi Aayi Re from Mother India, is like a trip down memory lane. “I get extremely nostalgic when I listen to this song. I grew up in a small town and I saw this film on the big screen. I thought Nargis was an angel from heaven. No other song can match what Holi Aayi Re does for me,” reveals Pathak.
Author Oswald Pereira counts Aaj Na Chodenge from Kati Patang, Holi ke Din and Arre Ja Re Hatt Natkhat among his choices. “Rajesh Khanna was great in this film and Asha Parekh too was cute. I saw Kati Patang three to four times just for this song. I cry remembering this song. Then there’s a very old Holi song Arre Ja Re Hatt from V. Shantaram’s classic movie Navrang that is the best Holi song of all time. It’s sheer magic, so pure and thoroughly enjoyable.”
If Rang Barse is the best Holi song ever for musician Rishi Dutta, singer Shibani Kashyap has a special corner for Holi Ke Din.
“Rang Barse has lived through ages and it is the best way to celebrate the festival. It is still one of the most preferred songs at every party. It is that one song which is enjoyed by every generation,” says Dutta.
Adds Kashyap, “As a child, I was scared of water balloons and colours. But when I saw Sholay and saw the actors having loads of fun in this song, I got inspired to play Holi.”