Ganesh Chaturthi’s association with Bollywood Image Credit Source: Social Media
Maharashtra is one such state where Ganesh Chaturthi preparations start three months before the festival. The idols of Bappa made by the sculptors here are not only exported to the country but also abroad. In Mumbai, the celebration of this festival starts a month in advance. In fact, every weekend, when the big idols made for the pandals of the public Ganesh festival celebrated in Mumbai leave the idol factory for their pandals, the whole city arrives to welcome Bappa. Just as this trend of Ganapati’s arrival is very famous, similarly the trend of Ganapati parties in Bollywood is becoming famous. Just as Bollywood likes to do everything in its own style, Ganpati celebrations also have their own styles and styles.
I belong to a family from Konkan, in which Ganapati has been worshiped for more than 150 years. He was brought into the house with an idol of Bappa on his head, so that his face was also covered so that no one could see him. Even today neither dhol is played nor danced or sung, but this festival of Bappa is celebrated with full devotion. It was a big culture shock for me when I started covering Ganpati in Bollywood 12 years ago. Having grown up in the rituals of public Ganesh festival, which originated from the idea of ​​Konkan Ganapati and Lokmanya Tilak, I realized that Bollywood’s way of looking at the festival is a bit casual. So let’s now know when these Bollywood celebrities sleep during Ganpati, when they wake up, what they do, whether they go for shooting or not, how does their daily routine change?
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Ganapati Bappa is established in the homes of many actors in Bollywood as well. Shooting and other film work is stopped for at least two days. During this time stars who love Ganapati Bappa spend their whole time in devotion to Ganapati Bappa. Many relatives, friends and acquaintances come to the stars house especially during aarti to have a darshan of bappa. Many Bollywood actors do not return to work until Ganapati Bappa is dissolved. This is the reason why most artists have a one and a half day Ganapati.
Home to many Bollywood stars like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Shraddha Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Janhvi Kapoor, Comedian Bharti Singh, Ankita Lokhande, Madhuri Dixit, Bipasha Basu, Vivek Oberoi, Amitabh Bachchan, Shilpa Shetty. Ganesh festival is celebrated with great pomp. During this time, all stars celebrate Ganesh festival by immersing themselves in devotion with their whole body, mind (and if seen, money too).
Ganpati Puja was organized at the homes of Bollywood celebrities
Ganapati was worshiped in Salman Khan’s house for about 17 years. But after her sister Arpita’s marriage, the Khan family shifted the celebration to Arpita’s house. Even today, along with Salman, his entire family participates in Bappa’s celebrations. Since this year, Salman and Arpita have started establishing Eco Friendly Bappa in their home. He has appealed to everyone to buy clay idols instead of flaunting them and bury them near their homes so that broken idols of Lord Ganesha are not found at Juhu Chowpatty (a famous beach in Mumbai) the next day.
A saffron colored Ganesh idol was worshiped in Salman Khan’s house before the installation of the eco-friendly Ganesh idol. It is said that mostly such idols are worshiped after fulfilling a wish.
Ganapati Bappa usually comes to Salman’s house for a day and a half and on this special occasion, his closest people often join Bappa’s celebrations. Panditji is entrusted with the responsibility to ensure that everything is done properly, from the worship of Bappa to the dissolution. Not just Ganesh Chaturthi, but his family celebrates every festival from Eid, Diwali to Christmas together. On the two days of Ganapati, the whole family eats together. Every year, Salman likes to spend these two days of Ganpati at his home.
Not only Salman but Shah Rukh Khan also brings Ganapati to his house every year. Giving the example of Modak, which is Lord Ganesha’s favorite sweet, he said that just like the hard-made Modak is very delicious in the Prasad of Ganesha festival, similarly if you work hard and have faith in God, all your dreams will also come true. will be realized.
If Akshay Kumar is to be believed, he stays up all night during Ganesh festival. They do not do any work till immersion, because their mind is immersed in devotion. He stays awake all night and takes care of the lamp burning in front of Lord Ganesha so that it does not go out. So that the night passes smoothly and no one sleeps, during this time their entire family also plays fun games together.
Even though many Bollywood actors bring Bappa home with great devotion, but for many the festival has become a trend and a PR gimmick. The media is invited to cover everything from these celebrities buying Ganapati idols to worshiping and disposing of Bappa at their homes. Many times it is not understood whether these celebrities are bringing Bappa for themselves or to show the world.
Ganapati Hopping
You must have heard about the culture of pandal hopping. While on the day of Durga Puja and Ganesh Chaturthi, people go to public pandals and have darshan of the Lord. But now a new trend of ‘Ganpati hopping’ of celebrities is starting. Where after worshiping the Ganapati idol at their home and the most important thing is that after posting the video on social media, the celebrities leave their father and go to other’s house to visit him. Meanwhile, care is also taken that good designer clothes are worn in front of the paparazzi.
Culture of Ganapati parties
On one hand, we see Ganpati being worshiped with rituals at the homes of many actors like Salman Khan’s family, Nana Patekar’s family or veteran actor Jeetendra, on the other hand, the festival turns into a party at the homes of many celebrities. goes The only difference is that it has not yet been named Ganpati Party. But seeing them feels less like a party. Now, if we go to see, there is a tradition of serving bhog to Ganapati on banana leaves and then the same bhog is fed to people who come to have Bappa’s darshan. But in these celebrity homes, the responsibility of food is delegated to someone else and a special buffet is arranged for the visiting guests so that everyone can eat the food of their choice and ‘chill’ with papa. Later, a return gift is also given to the person who comes to have Bappa’s darshan.
The ‘Lalbagh Cha Raja’ craze
From TV to Bollywood, every celebrity is eager to visit the pandal of ‘Lalbagh Cha Raja’. Now everyone goes to public pandals to have bappa’s darshan, so it is natural that celebrities also want to have bappa’s darshan on this special occasion. But there is an interesting story behind it too. Many a times we get a call from the cast’s manager that our cast is available for the darshan of ‘Lalbagh Cha Raja’. If you want you can do Ganapati darshan segment with it. But this celebrity wants to go to ‘Lalbagh Cha Raja’ and not any other Ganesh pandal. Many times these artists reach Lalbagh despite Lord Ganesha being installed in the house. Going to the ‘Lalbagh Cha Raja’ pandal has become a status symbol no longer of devotion but of joining the VIP celebrity list.
However, there are many actors in Bollywood who prefer to keep this celebration of Bappa away from the eyes of the cameras. They worship their father with great devotion. But we have to admit that between the traditional Ganpati festival and the public Ganesh festival, Bollywood has started its own new trend of celebrating this festival.
