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CELEBS’ CRACKER TALES >>P5 FOR TAAPSEE PANNU, IT’S DIYAS OVER CRACKERS
Through her own celebrations, the actor sends out the message of a Green Diwali
For Taapsee Pannu, Diwali time means family time. This year too, she is going to celebrate the festival with her parents and sister Shagun, but there is a slight change in the programme — the celebration has moved from her hometown Delhi, to Mumbai, her new home. Other than that it will be pretty much the same with rangoli, diyas, decorations and, most importantly, a cracker-free Diwali. Excerpts:
How have Diwali celebrations changed over the years, especially after becoming a celebrity?
It has not changed at all. I do the same things as before. I still celebrate with my family, I still make the rangoli and decorate my house with diyas. We still have relatives coming over and a big fat puja together. The one thing I ensure is not to let many people know that I am back home because then I can’t spend enough time with the family and just have to keep attending to people. That’s the only thing that has changed.
What are the things you like most about the festival and those you don’t?
I do not like crackers at all. Everything else, I love, from food to family. When I was young, I used to play a lot with crackers. I would plead with my dad and uncles to get me crackers. But one Diwali when I was in school, I saw there was so much pollution and it was all hazy inside our apartment. And I couldn’t see my bedroom clearly from my living room. That scared me and since then I don’t burst crackers.
Diwali parties are big part of the festival, do you like to attend them?
No, not really. I attended Mr Bachchan’s party but I have not attended many after that. For me, the festival is all about spending time with my family and I end up just going home.
People are propagating Green Diwali, how do you ensure that the festival is free of crackers? I try, through whatever medium, to get the message across while also practising the same thing myself. I think people only listen to you when you practise it. In my family nobody does it [burst crackers], so I hope people understand that it is for their own good.
Diwali is a festival of lights, what light and positivity do you wish in your life this Diwali?
There is just one thing in my prayers and that is to make my film [Saand Ki Aankh] a hit. That will not only change everything for me and Bhumi [Pednekar] but it will also change things in the industry where female-led cinema is concerned. For that, I hope Lakshmi puja happens not just in our homes but also at the box office.