Festivals like fashion, recycle in our films and stories. So, while in the good old days no Hindi film was complete without a holi song, there also came a time when the critics described such sequences as clichés. After a long gap, filmmaker Vipul Shah redefined the festival into a dance item ‘Do me a favour let’s play holi …’ in his movie Waqt – the Race against Time and revived the fad. Soon we had hero Dhanush splash a range of colors on his beloved Sonam Kapooor in Ranjhanaa followed by Ranbir Kapoor- Deepika Padukone drenching each other with champagne for ‘Balam pichkari…’ in Ye Jawani hai Deewani and an energetic Deepika -Ranveer Singh living it to the fullest in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ramleela: Goliyon ki Raasleela.
All our festivals are entrenched in mythology and the story of holi is that that king Hiranyakashapu disapproved of his son Prahlad worshipping Lord Vishnu and when he could not convert him, the emperor father tried to slay his so but every time Prahlad was miraculously saved by Lord Vishnu. Exasperated, Hiranyakashapu sent for his sister Holika blessed with a boon to remain unscathed by fire. Hiranyakashapu ordered Holika to sit on the pyre with little Prahlad in her lap and to everyone’s surprise, Holika was reduced to ashes and Prahlad was unscathed. Ever since, the festival of Holi is celebrated to mark the end of evil, while dhudeti, the ritual of spreading colour, the following day is an exercise to soothe the angry flames!