Lohri is all about warmth of family and friends for these celebs

Bonfires, family time, naach-gaana, relishing rewri, gachak, saag... celebrities recall their memories and reveal their

Lohri plans

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Avinesh Rekhi, actorThe best thing about Lohri is that it falls in winters, which is my favourite season of the year. I always make sure that I celebrate this festival in Chandigarh with my family and close friends, but this year due to work commitments I will be in Mumbai. I love gorging on food, and sweets and especially the Lohri special of groundnuts. I will celebrate the festival with my wife and kids once I am back home. It feels good to be sitting around the bonfire with all your near and dear ones and those close to you.

Dheeraj Dhoopar, actorMy wife Vinny and I plan to spend Lohri with my in-laws. Because now we are based in Mumbai we get together with our family, I mean the entire family and we celebrate Lohri. It is more of a fun picnic sort of a celebration. My best memory of Lohri is from my home in Delhi. It may have felt pretty normal back then, but now I understand how much I miss it. It has been ages, due to my shoot schedules, since I last celebrated it to the core. This year my wife Vinny and I plan to spend Lohri with my in-laws. We just want to spend some quality time together.

Shaleen Bhanot, actor
Lohri has been one of my most beloved festivals since childhood and I have many memories attached with it. We Punjabis celebrate it with great enthusiasm. Amongst all the rituals, sitting around the bonfire and the Punjabi dhol is my favourite part. This year is going to be special because my parents are in town and I will be celebrating Lohri with them after a very long time.

Nikhil Khurana, actor
The warmth of Lohri is hard to resist. I spent some of my best days as a student in Chandigarh's DAV College-10 in Chandigarh. That was also where we had a blast on Lohri on campus. Panjab University used to have the biggest bonfire for students in Student Centre and that's where we would all converge with friends, dance, have sweets and do lot of masti.

Shivya Pathania, actor
I got two days off from shooting, so I am back home in Shimla for Lohri. It's very cold in Shimla during Lohri, which restricts outdoor activities like kite flying on Makar Sankranti. But, we used to have a bonfire in the neighbourhood where our neighbours would do Punjabi folk dance while we would do our Himachali folk dance, Nati. When I moved to Chandigarh for my engineering degree and lived in the hostel, that's when I celebrated Lohri in true Punjabi style, with bonfire, dance, prayer, rewris and the dhol.

Avneet Kaur, TV actor
I miss getting together with family and singing folk songs around the bonfire on Lohri. Since I moved to Mumbai for the serial, I miss all that craze of the festival, meeting family, friends and wearing traditional clothes.

Ashnoor Kaur, actor
Coming from a Punjabi family, Lohri is very special for us. Every year, I look for our version of fun and bonfire on this day. One of my fav rituals is that of offering rewris in the holy fire. And I love eating rewris more than throwing them in the fire! I remember the time when we lit the fire and surrounded it at home with friends and family. I am sure we will celebrate on the sets of our show too since it is themed on Punjab.

Laddi Gill, musician
Being first cousins with singer, actor, Sippy Gill, we will hold a lively joint bash, since both Sippy and I are celebrating our sons’ first Lohri at our native village, Rauli in Moga, Punjab. We are next-door neighbours too. So, next year will see me holding a grand Lohri party. A joint party each year is a good idea as we are getting all our singer, actor friends for a night-long family do. Family me joint khushi aai hai, to party toh banti hai.

Manmeet and Harmeet Singh (Meet Bros), musicians
Manmeet Singh, of music directors’ duo, Meet Bros, “We are in Chandigarh, which is our maternal grandparents’ hometown, for Lohri, after two decades. When we were told about a private gig in Chandigarh, we said yes. So, it will be a traditional Punjabi Lohri for us. Rewari, gachak, amid songs of Sundar mundrie... We will visit our home in Phase-2, Mohali near Chandigarh and enjoy the cold night in front of the bonfire. I have also invited few of my childhood buddies who are joining us. For us, it's nostalgic.”

Jasmin Bhasin, actor
The most fun part for me about Lohri is the lip-smacking traditional sweets. I am a big-time foodie, and especially on Lohri I binge on phulle, rewari,

sarson da saag

and makki di roti. The best memory I've had about the festival is celebrating it in the chilly atmosphere in Rajasthan, where I was born and raised, with all the tradition, I will always cherish that time.

Japinder Kaur, Canadian film director
I have flown down from Canada to India with my baby and husband, especially to celebrate my son's first Lohri in Amritsar, which is my hometown. The significance of the festival is felt most at home and is particularly relevant for newborns. So, there was no way we could have missed celebrating his first Lohri in Punjab.