Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Bollywood Image Credit Source: Social Media
Bollywood stars and the festival of Ganpati Bappa have always had a deep connection and many celebrities believe that this association makes them a part of Mumbai. Ganesh Chaturthi is the biggest festival of entire Maharashtra along with Mumbai. In the early days, this festival was celebrated on a grand scale in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. People who came to Mumbai for work from their villages used to go to their homes during this festival, but it was not possible to go to their villages every year on leave, so some people started celebrating this festival in Mumbai itself. So some people considered Mumbai as their home and started worshiping Ganapati here.
Now this festival is celebrated all over the country. But this festival is also special for Mumbaikars because here even in the public Ganeshotsav, Bappa is welcomed with the same love as people welcome Bappa to their homes. Bollywood has easily adopted this tradition of Mumbai, so let’s take a look at Ganeshotsav in Bollywood.
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Many Bollywood stars believe that whatever they are today is because of Ganpati Bappa’s blessings. No matter what caste or religion those film stars belong to. Many celebrities in Bollywood establish Ganapati in their homes and during this time they leave all their work and get busy with Ganapati Bappa.
Ganapati comes to most of the celebrities’ homes for a day and a half.
Due to his respect and devotion, many Bollywood stars establish Ganapati in their homes. Since Ganapati pooja has to be done with great care and complete ritual, no mistake should be made, most of the actors keep Ganapati pooja in their house for one and a half days. Actors like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Sara Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Govinda, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dixit, Ankita Lokhande, Shilpa Shetty, Janhvi Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Bharti Singh come to their homes for one and a half days and till then, Ganpati is worshiped in everyone’s home. Also there is an atmosphere of celebration and festivity.
On this auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, may Lord Ganesha bless us all and our families with health, love and joy. And of course lots of Modak!!! pic.twitter.com/V9dZ40Jf80
– Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) September 7, 2024
Father of celebrities
Salman Khan He used to worship bappa in his home galaxy apartment. In fact, her mother is from a Marathi family and hence both Hindu and Muslim festivals are celebrated in her home. Now, due to lack of space, she celebrates every festival at her sister Arpita’s house instead of Salman Khan’s Galaxy apartment. Like Salman Khan, Ganpati is worshiped for one and a half days in Shah Rukh Khan’s house.
Shraddha Kapoor said in an interview that when Ganapati Bappa comes to our house, guests come and go throughout the day and at night the whole family and friends gather and sing many bhajans and film songs of Ganapati. Apart from the bhajans of God, songs like Deva Shri Ganesh, Ganapati Bappa Morya, Deva Ho Deva Ganpati Deva create an atmosphere of joy and devotion throughout the night. Such an atmosphere is seen only when Ganapati Bappa comes to his house.
A few years ago during the promotion of a film, Akshay Kumar said that he also worships Ganapati Bappa a lot and Bappa comes to his house for a day and a half. Akshay Kumar said that ever since I came to Maharashtra I have been celebrating Ganpati festival. Earlier he used to go to his friends house for Ganapati Bappa. Now I also keep Ganapati in my house and worship Ganapati Bappa with my heart.
Ekta Kapoor believes in Bappa
Ganapati Bappa also arrives at Jeetendra and Ekta Kapoor’s house for 5 days. It is worth mentioning that Ekta Kapoor is a great devotee of Ganapati Bappa and she has kept an idol of Ganapati Bappa in the studio of Balaji Telefilm for worship. For a long time, Ekta Kapoor used to walk every Tuesday to visit Siddhivinayak Mandir Bappa in Dadar, Mumbai, 17 kilometers from Andheri. Apart from Jeetendra and Ekta Kapoor, Ganapati also comes to Nana Patekar’s house for 5 days. At his home, Bappa’s festival is celebrated with complete simplicity and a Ganapati is set up at his father-in-law’s house in Mumbai, where his entire family gathers and celebrates the Ganesh festival.
My grandfather V. Shantaram always celebrated Ganesh festival for 11 days at his Rajkamal studio. This Ganpati was created by the setting department in the studio itself and was considered the largest Ganpati at that time. Cultural programs were held every evening. Hail #GaneshaChaturthi https://t.co/ekONVY0VUv
— Durga Jasraj (@durgajasraj) August 31, 2022
Bappa also comes to the studio
Like senior actors like Nana Patekar, Jitendra, Ganapathi comes to many big studios in Mumbai for 5 days, 7 days or 11 days. In Bollywood, 65 years ago in the year 1959, V Shantaram (Shantaram Rajaram Vanakudre) started the first Ganesha festival in public. V Shantaram was the producer director who installed a magnificent statue of Lord Ganesha on the occasion of Ganesh festival at his studio Raj Kala Mandir. The statue was about 13 feet tall. After him started the trend of celebrating public Ganesh festival in the studio. Even though V Shantaram started this festival in the film industry. In fact it happened that a 13 feet idol was used in the song ‘Chal Ja Re Hath Natkhat’ from the movie ‘Navarang’ and then V Shantaram decided that he would worship this idol every year on Ganesh Chaturthi. Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated in this studio for 11 days with great fanfare. But Raj Kapoor’s RK Studios added the right touch of glamor to it.
When you saw the Shiva idol you knew it was RK Studio Ganapathi
Bappa Morya 🙏#GaneshaChaturthi #Ganesha_Chaturthi pic.twitter.com/Xr3VaTkKUS
— Film History Pics (@FilmHistoryPic) August 31, 2022
Raj Kapoor founded Lord Ganesha at RK Studios in Chembur, Mumbai. Along with the studio staff, all the big faces of the industry also used to come to the studio to have a darshan of Bappa during this festival. On the day of dissolution, all the men of the Kapoor family used to take part in Bappa’s dissolution procession on the road. People used to gather in Mumbai’s Chembur area to see him. Ganapati was established for 11 days at RK Studios. Then the studio caught fire and the Kapoor family decided to sell the studio. Bappa last visited this studio 6 years ago in 2018. When RK Studios was locked, Neetu Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor promised to continue the practice. So this time too Ganpati has been established at Neetu Kapoor’s house.
Apart from these studios, Ganesh festival is also celebrated in many studios like Nataraj, Filmalaya, Filmistan and Film City in Mumbai. But here it is not artists or studio owners but the people and employees of the units working here organize this festival.
