Be it playing cards with family members or bingeing on some yummy mithais, Diwali has always been a time of mega celebrations for producer Himanshoo A Pathak. Himanshoo, who has produced ‘Ishqiyoun’, says that he has always loved Diwali.
“Diwali is one of my favourite festivals as it’s the only festival which has an ensemble of Colours, lights, food, sweets, clothes and gifts with tons of warmth. Diwali has been special since childhood. My father used to take us, on Dussehra, to a large ground in the city called Kymore where there would be a 180 feet tall and beautiful ravan. That night used to mark the festive season and till Diwali, every night, we would be roaming and partying at some or the other place. It was a month of only holidays,” he says.
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He adds, “My fondest memories are from my hometown Katni in Madhya Pradesh. We had four big families living almost together without any boundaries and it was a festival every day as we had around 40-50 people in our house. So, it used to be breakfast at chacha’s home to dinner at someone else's house. We used to go crazy gorging on sweets and making fashion statements with our newly stitched clothes for Diwali. At our place, the festival continues even after Diwali for a week, 10 days more of playing cards etc which was so thrilling as kids as we used to be awake till late only during these times.”
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Talking about the festival this year, he says, “Pandemic taught us the importance of closeness, it gave us the perspective of looking at something more important than work and money and that is family. You can’t buy happiness and that is something so meaningful that we learnt when we look back at those two years of the pandemic. Though I wanted to be in my home town for this beautiful festival but I have just arrived from my hometown so as of now busy with work during the day and cards at night.”
He adds, “Guess the fundamentals are in place this year as well with cleaning then pooja in the evening and crackers at night, ending the festival gorging on some lip smacking mithais.”
And what about his diet and his clothes for the auspicious day? “Well, it's the ethnic time! When else do you get time to take out your best attires and flaunt your true Indian style wear. I love Saif Ali khan’s fashion sense, especially his choice of Indian outfits and love buying his style of kurtas. No one can agree more than me that all diets go for a toss. Everyone starts sweating it out in the gym pre and post Diwali celebrations, to be back in shape.”
