Bollywood can be seen as the celebration and amalgamation of different cultures, festivals and religions. With the festival of Holi upon us, we thought we would take a look at how Indian cinema celebrates the colourful day through its films and songs.
Mother India (1957): The song ‘Holi Ayee Re Kanhai’, a very melodious song featuring Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt and a whole host of others.
Kati Patang (1970): Rajesh Khanna and Asha Parekh are part of the song ‘Khelenge hum Holi’.
Namak Haraam (1973): Rekha comes across Rajesh Khanna and Asrani indulging in some “bhang”. The song ‘Nadiya Se Dariya’ is also a part of this sequence.
Phagun (1973): A very sweet song featuring Waheeda Rehman called ‘Piya Sang Khelo Re Holi’.
Sholay (1975): The song ‘Holi Ke Din’ featuring the beautiful Hema Malini in all her dancing glory with Dharmendra.
Silsila (1981): The iconic song ‘Rang Barse’ in the film sees the extra-marital affair between Rekha’s character and Amitabh Bachchan’s character come to light in front of their respective partners and other party attendees.
Holi (1984): Of course with this title we had to include this film. It starred Aamir Khan and in his acting avatar director Ashutosh Gorwariker. Set during Holi the film directed by Ketan Mehta is not a celebration but a story of student unrest at a college and the tragic circumstances.
Mashaal (1984): The song ‘Holi Aayee’ starring the very beautiful Rati Agnihotri and Anil Kapoor.
Karma (1986): As part of the song ‘Dil Diya Hai Jaan Bhi Denge’, there is a Holi scene which sees Nutan serving food to the soldiers and colours being thrown in celebration.
Deewana (1992): Shah Rukh Khan and his friends arrive at Divya Bharti’s house so he can tell her he loves her. After trying to escape, Bharti is covered in red colour by SRK saying “Jaan bakshne ka shukriya“.
Damini (1993): A scene which provides the turning point in the film when the maid servant is raped whilst her family are partaking in the celebration of Holi.
Darr (1993): In the song ‘Ang Se Ang Lagaana’, Shah Rukh Khan is part of the music party and seems to get more enraged at seeing his love, Juhi Chawla, happy dancing with her husband, Sunny Deol, and family.
Mohabbatein (2000): The song ‘Soni Soni’ begins with Shah Rukh Khan being covered in colour by Aishwarya. The song features all the main characters of the film celebrating in a mischievous, sweet and flirty manner.
Baghban (2003): The whole family take part in the colourful celebration and dance to ‘Holi Khele Raghuveera’.
Mangal Pandey (2005): Aamir Khan and Rani Mukerjee throw colour at one another in the song ‘Dekho Aayi Holi’.
Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005): The song ‘Let’s Play Holi’ picturised on Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra and an entourage of dancers became popular arguably because of the modern English lyrics, not heard before for a Holi song.
Banaras (2006): The song ‘Rang Dalo’ is a real vocal treat with Sonu Nigam’s voice. The song is picturised on Urmila Matondkar and Ashmit Patel as well as Raj Babbar and Dimple Kapadia.
Action Replayy (2010): Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s character’s introduction comes in the form of a fabulous Holi song both in music and pictures, ‘Chan Ke Mohalla’.
The BollySpice team wishes you all a very Happy Holi and here’s hoping that we continue to enjoy the colours of Bollywood and the happiness of Holi all year round.
