India is celebrating the vibrant festival of colours on Thursday, 21 March 2019. The festival is celebrated to signify the triumph of good over evil. On the day of Holi, people splash colours on each other and also play with water guns and balloons. In the evening, they prepare and relish delicious meals. Bollywood celebrities like Lata Mangeshkar and Dilip Kumar share their thoughts on Holi which was celebrated on Thursday. Here's what they have to say:
Lata Mangeshkar: Holi is a festival of colours and a time of peace and harmony. I request the men of the country to desist from hooliganism so that the women can also enjoy Holi without looking nervously over their shoulders. I wish this Holi all Indians would unite to become one strong and powerful nation, so that no enemy from the outside would dream of attacking us.
Shatrughan Sinha: I pray for peace and harmony this Holi. I pray that better sense would prevail over the war-mongerers. And I pray that every Indian resolves this Holi to vote for the parliamentary representatives who would voice the apprehensions of the common man. How wonderful it would have been if this Holi we could have celebrated the festival without the clouds of war hovering over our great nation. I was always very enthusiastic about Holi. But nowadays the 'josh' is gone in the film industry. Even the Bachchans don't celebrate Holi with the same enthusiasm. Holi has now become a family affair rather than community event.
Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu: Our country has the beauty of all the colours of the rainbow in its people's togetherness. Hindustan is unique in its people's love and respect of happy co-existence. May this always prevail. This is our prayer.
Pooja Bhatt: Holi is a time where we need to reinstate and believe in the virtue of being truthful and honest and fight away evil in all its forms. For me, it's about spreading love in a world plagued with hate.
Preity Zinta: As of now I am just chilling for Holi. Non-stop travelling has taken the josh out of me. I just want to sleep.
Rajkummar Rao: I'm going to play a bit with my friends and family here in Mumbai but I make sure that I always use safe organic colors only. All I would say is, it's a festival of love and colors so do celebrate it with lot of love and harmony and be safe.