It may go by different names in different regions, but Makar Sankranti whips up the same fervour in our celebs

Sheetal

With the first month of the year arrives the first festival of 2023. It goes by different name in different regions of India—Lohri in Punjab and Haryana, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Magh Bihu in Assam and Makar Sankranti in Maharashtra and other states.

We ask celebs from the entertainment industry, how they celebrate the festival each year.

Getting nostalgic
Navin Prabhakar

Although it has been years since we celebrated Makar Sakranti properly, memories from childhood are still afresh. Sweets, jalebi, fafda with friends are part of celebration these days. The celebrations would kick in three months prior, and we used to fly kites.

The food angle
Rewati Limaye

We do celebrate Makar Sankranti at home and like any Maharashtrian family, we make tilgul. We visit friends and relatives. I always associate the good memories with the food. One such memory is that of my grandmother making gud tori on Makar Sankranti. I used to wait for her to make that. I make it even now on Makar Sankranti.

Double the fun
Priya Paramita Paul

Makar Sankranti is special to me because this is the first holiday after New Year. I’m a Bengali, born and brought up in Assam, so I get to celebrate two festivals on the same day, Makar Sankranti and Bihu. We celebrate Uruka night (January 13) before Sankranti by taking part in a community feast. It’s a celebration to welcome Bihu the next day. This year too I have a couple of Bengali and Assamese friends, so I will celebrate both festivals. There are two types of sweets, which are my favourite—Bengali sweet patishapta and traditional Assamese til pitha.

Lohri in Chandigarh
Charrul Malik

My best Lohri memories are from Chandigarh. We used to sing Lohri songs and visit people’s homes and ask for Lohri. They used to give us popcorn and money. This year too we will celebrate it in our building by dancing to Punjabi songs and eating popcorn, til revdi and gajak.

Sky full of kites
Mohit Shewani

I’m very much connected with the Gujarati culture. I used to visit Ahmedabad during this festival. Unfortunately this time I’m shooting today. If I get time I’ll try to celebrate on the sets.

Bonfire time
Ekta Sharma

Makar Sankranti ushers the harvest season. I tried flying kites when I was a child. But now I enjoy watching others flying kites. We also do pooja and have sweets on Lohri. We light a bonfire.

Remembering nani
Kate Sharma

Being a Sindhi, Lohri brings cheers. I miss my nani on Lohri. We used to light a big bonfire to kill negativity from the universe and bring prosperity. It’s all about bringing harmony, peace and joy into our lives.

Fun we had
Sneha Jain

When we were kids, I stayed in Gujarat. We used to buy kites with actors’ faces on it. My brothers used to teach me how to fly kites. That one week of fun and laughter was amazing. Now, we don’t fly kites. So, during Uttarayan we make sweets at home and chill.