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
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