Celebrating Holi, Bollywood style

A festival of colours, craziness and camaraderie, Holi offers a platter full of song and play.

Its depiction in Bollywood, in keeping true to its gregarious, musical temperament, involves high-pitched drama and frolic. Here's a look at some of the prominent Holi songs over the decades. Tell us which one is your favourite.

P S: Happy Holi!

Rang barse, Silsila

Inarguably, the ultimate Holi anthem, musician duo Shiv-Hari's bouncy reworking of a folk number owes much of its success to Amitabh Bachchan's playful antics on and off screen.

The Big B, in full on bhang-mode, cavorts in the open lawns with friends and family to celebrate the festival of cheer and colours. And if that entails beating the dholak frantically or openly flirting with another's missus, so be it.

As the story goes, even foes turn friends on the auspicious day of Holi. Of course, in Sholay, this doesn't translate to a truce between Thakur and Gabbar.

The golden pair of Dharmendra and Hema Malini, however, indulges in a carefree dance to the beats of Holi ke din with a throw of affection and fist full of gulaal.

For most part, Mehboob Khan's Mother India is a poignant drama about a woman's trials and tribulations. Even so it takes a breather to soak in the delirious nature of the occasion.

And so you have reel-life brothers Rajendra Kumar and Sunil Dutt awkwardly romping to Naushad's festive melody, Holi aayi re kanhai while on-screen mother Nargis muses over a flashback of vibrant nostalgia.

With Holi, there's always an element of imposition. Not surprisingly Rajesh Khanna takes full advantage of the on-going hoopla and bhang-filled session to openly shake a leg with Asha Parekh, a single mother, a strict no-no back then, with the unrelenting Aaj na chodenge.

In Yash Chopra's Mashaal, the entire basti community, led by a raw, young Anil Kapoor and veteran Dilip Kumar, dance their troubles away whilst engaging in a wild exchange of gulaal.

And all this time Hridaynath Mangeshkar's lively ditty echoes Javed Akhtar's succinct thoughts about Holi's philosophy of bringing people together. Holi hai, indeed!

Chopra's fascination with Holi is as synonymous as his love for Switzerland and dressing up his leading in pristine white. His take on obsessive romance, Darr is no exception.

While Sunny Deol, Juhi Chawla and Anupam Kher bounce in colours and unending rounds of pichkaari, Shah Rukh Khan sulks in the corner with his lonesome dholak. That's not a scene we are likely to see again.

The assertion and theatrics of Ketan Mehta's elaborately staged Holi re, helmed by A R Rahman, is conveyed with equal frenzy and madness by a long-haired, virtually unrecognisable Aamir Khan and lithe Rani Mukerji.

If only the movie had packed in as much chutzpah as this number.

They made quite a couple, no?

While the chance of seeing Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra sizzle it together on the silver screen are next to none, it's quite a sight to watch the uninhibited duo go wild 'n' wet under the pretext of Holi.

AB is back with a bang, Dreamgirl Hema Malini in tow, to liven things up with his ever effective demonstration of How to celebrate Holi, the Bachchan way in Aadesh Shrivastava's spirited even if slightly over-the-top Holi khele Raghuveera.

The duo's amazing chemistry is one of the key factors at play here.