Holi is about friends, water balloons and dhani: Aarohi Patel & Kinjal Rajpriya

Holi is about water balloons and dhani (jowar popcorn),” say Aarohi Patel and Kinjal Rajpriya, who joined us for a fun Holi shoot. The D-Town divas often celebrate different festivals together. Kinjal says, “Everyone comes together during Holi to play with colours and no matter where you stay, relatives and friends make sure to celebrate the day together.”
Aarohi adds, “While we don’t get to play Holi the way we did in our childhood, it is a good break from our routine where you can enjoy and celebrate with your friends and family.”
I prefer playing Holi with herbal colours: Kinjal
The 3 Ekka actress says, “The best part about Indian households is the pre-festival preparations and that remains my fondest memory of Holi. All my friends from our housing society would gather at one house and we prepared six or seven buckets full of water balloons for the next day. Our meals are simple and light, as we gorge on dhani and dates throughout the day.”
Kinjal adds, “Every year, we go for Holika Dahan a day before Dhuleti and have a huge spread afterwards at the family dinner with relatives. While I don’t play Holi much now, if there is a gathering at my friends’ place, I attend it. However, I go fully prepared- with loads of moisturiser on skin and oil in hair (laughs). I have always been conscious about playing Holi with herbal and organic colours and staying away from silver and black colours.”

We will be celebrating Holi in Udaipur this year: Aarohi
Aarohi celebrates Holi where she feels “safe and comfortable.” She says, “I have grown up in an apartment. After Holika Dahan, all the kids used to gather and prepare water balloons. Our Holi mornings started at the housing society with friends. After that, we visited my nani’s place and rang wale kapdo mein hi we would go to some restaurant for lunch. We played with colours till late evening and then dozed off. Even in college, we had crazy Holi celebrations with friends. Now, I prefer playing Holi within my closed circle. This year, since it’s a long weekend, we will celebrate Holi in Udaipur.”
The Udan Chhoo actress adds, “Apart from playing with colours, I love the fact that we get to eat a lot of dhani popcorn, which is my favourite. Also, Holi celebrations are incomplete without dancing to Rang Barse and Balam Pichkari.”

I am very fond of nature and while I enjoy this festival, I often become that didi in my housing society who doesn’t allow colours to be thrown at plants. We should not throw colours at animals or plants
-Kinjal
While I love the festival, I don’t like playing Holi in public or at clubs. I don’t feel comfortable and feel petrified. The reason may be the incidents where we hear about women being harassed or certain movie scenes depicting that, which have stayed with me for a while. Within my closed circle, I feel comfortable and love playing with colours
-Aarohi