Actress Yesha Harsora, who is currently seen as Tapasya in Jagadhatri on Zee TV, gets candid about her Holi memories, sibling pranks and how the festival has changed for her over the years.
Talking about her childhood celebrations, Yesha shares, “My favourite memories are from childhood when we would team up against everyone else. We would plan, fill balloons, hide colours, and act innocent. But by the end of the day, we were always the most colourful and completely unrecognisable. With Neha, it was always about planning the perfect prank — and then pretending we had nothing to do with it!”
For the actress, Holi begins at home. She says, “It’s an unsaid rule between us — Holi starts with attacking each other first. Definitely my younger sister… and my brother too! No matter how busy we are now, applying colour to each other first is non-negotiable. It feels incomplete without that.”
Recalling one of the funniest incidents, she laughs, “Someone once applied colour very sweetly on my face and then poured an entire bucket of coloured water from behind. The shock was priceless! In fact, once I just normally applied colour to my friends and they had an entire tub ready — they literally put me in it!”
Ask her what she says when caught mid-prank, and she quips, “I just say, ‘It wasn’t me, it slipped!’ — even when it clearly didn’t.”
On dealing with stubborn colours, Yesha admits she has learned the hard way. “I’ve tried everything — from home remedies like besan and malai to scrubbing way more than I should have. I remember once I kept washing my face every hour, hoping it would magically disappear, but it stayed for days.”
She adds, “Now I make sure to apply oil on my head before playing Holi. It really helps.”
When it comes to fashion, white is her go-to choice. “White, always. There’s something iconic about white on Holi — watching it turn colourful is part of the fun. I keep it simple and comfortable but still aesthetic — sometimes a kurti and dupatta or a suit.”
Her Holi playlist? “‘Rang Barse’ is iconic and ‘Balam Pichkari’ too — you just can’t skip them,” she says, referring to the popular tracks from Silsila and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.
Sharing her plans for this year, the actress concludes, “This year, I plan to keep it simple — celebrate with family and close friends. Good food, good music and meaningful moments. That’s my kind of Holi now.”
