Think of Holi and Bhaang comes to mind. It is an intrinsic aspect of the festival of colours... this year, celebs tell us about their hilarious experiences of getting high on Bhaang and handling their friends’ madcap activities!
Sunny Leone, actor
My funny Holi memory is about trying bhaang with my husband Daniel (Weber) at a close friend’s party. Initially it was a smooth ride until the effect hit us hard. After that, it was a non-stop roller coaster ride for Daniel and me. We just couldn’t stop laughing and realised the next day the effect of what we had. This was once and a long time ago after which we never got our hands on a glass of bhaang.
Saumya Tandon, TV actor
My experiences of bhaang have never been where I was under the influence of it. I am usually the one taking care of everyone else. So, bhaang has made me a chauffeur, always! I am the one who has to drop my friends safely to their houses after Holi parties. I personally have always been very disinterested in bhaang. Usually, I’m so drunk on music and dancing, I hardly need to get drunk or have bhaang. I am working almost every day so I’m just going to laze around in my bed like an absolute hippopotamus.
Sophie Choudhry, singer
I was relatively new in Mumbai and was invited to one of the biggest Holi bashes. I was offered a drink and was told it’s chaas (buttermilk) so I happily downed a couple but it was bhaang and I suddenly started dancing with extra speed and fervour. I went up to the host, a legend, and probably spoke absolute nonsense as he kindly spent time chatting with me making sure I had eaten. By the time I got into my car, everything had slowed down. My brain has never felt so slow. I couldn’t even shower myself. My mum had to help me with it. It’s not an experience I would want to repeat.
Aparshakti Khurana, actor
Funnily, I have played Holi only once in my life and ended up taking care of the entire gang of friends who were totally sloshed due to bhaang. Well, as they say, once bitten, twice shy. So I am off to the Holy city of Amritsar as we speak.
Anshuman Jha, actor
I don’t smoke or drink but I love to have thandai with bhaang on Holi. And on one such occasion, I happened to be with a close friend whose girlfriend was mad at him for something. I stood there like a zombie watching the drama unfold. For 15 minutes, I just listened to her rambling and when I couldn’t take it anymore, I tapped her on the shoulder and told her ‘Are you really mad at him? If yes, then take this bottle and break his car’s windshield. Take it all out instead of stressing your vocal chords.’ She actually took the empty bhaang bottle from me and smashed it on his car’s windshield and left. My friend was in a state of shock. I started laughing while in the car and didn’t stop laughing for next three hours.
Ssumier Pasricha, actor-comedian
I really don’t drink and drive and I won’t encourage anyone to do that. But once in my life, I had bhaang and then I decided to drive to my place. The drive was a memorable one for me because through out the way I kept thinking why I am driving so slowly, but in reality I was driving at a decent speed. In my head, all cars were speeding ahead and I was trying to reach the accelerator but simply couldn’t. It was like one of those surreal scenes from a movie.
Prince Narula, actor
In Chandigarh, Holi usually stretches till night. So, some of my friends and I went to a graveyard instead of heading back home. There we set up a barbecue for snacks and had thandai with bhaang. As time passed, and we got high on bhaang, some of our friends started seeing ghosts while others had a gala time frightening them. It was one hell of a night.
Nakash Aziz, singer
I remember this one time in college when I had too much of bhaang and went crazy. Till date my friends tease me about the incident. I was singing and dancing around the area. They tried to stop me but I was on a roll that day. I was even dragging my friends and forcing them to join me to dance. I was happy and high that day and I think it was one of the best Holi celebrations I ever had.
Bharti Taneja, beauty expert
A few years ago I got high on bhaang with my husband. We were across the road from our house and I stopped in the middle of the road before crossing it. Later my daughters tried to keep me awake and make fun of me. Even when I went to take a shower, I kept on pausing for some time. It made me slow and I had to eventually fall asleep. But it was a lot of fun.
Shweta Basu Prasad, actress
The funniest memory of having bhaang has to be from last year’s Holi celebrations. I had bhaang and then slept on the floor with all the Holi colours still on my body and my sunglasses on!!! Then I woke up suddenly at three in the morning and went on an endless laughing fit. It was a terrible experience. But I can’t deny that it was incredibly funny at the same time. I wonder if I will do it again.
Kinshuk Vaidya, actor
After hearing endless tales about bhaang and its effects on people, I finally tried it for the first time during my college days. Trust me, the experience was all that and beyond. I was on a never-ending roller coaster ride. I was experiencing a riot of emotions and feelings and doing things that were beyond my control. Even though, I really can’t remember clearly or accurately what all I ended up doing after consuming bhaang, I do remember on thing and that is that I was feeling ecstatic. It was a wonderful experience.
Varun Thakur, stand-up comedian
When it comes to Holi, bhaang is definitely the first thing that comes to my mind. My best experience of bhaang actually came at a non-Holi time. It was almost 10 years ago, when I was on a college trip to Rajasthan. We were in Jaisalmer and me and my friends had gone to check out a fort. At the foot of the fort, I saw a massive board which said, “Government authorised bhaang shop”. So we just went to try it and had a massive glass of bhaang. We all felt normal for a while and were roaming around in the fort. Suddenly, stuff started moving! I could see the fort moving, and all my friends were experiencing the same. After that, we had an extremely crazy laughing session. We laughed continuously for four hours. Also, we all felt so energetic. It took us an hour to climb up to the top of the fort and we reached down in 15 minutes. We started hallucinating a lot. Towards the end of the bhaang trip, we started feeling very hungry. This weird place in Jaisalmer was selling deep-fried pizza slices and I had 16 of those. That was my first experience with good bhaang. There was no hangover, it was like a few hours of complete fun. I think that Holi should be more about having fun, dancing and meeting friends rather throwing those chemical-based colours on each other and wasting water. For now, I just hope we have more government authorised bhaang shops everywhere!
Dheeraj Dhoopar, actor
I remember once my friends and I had decided to have bhaang and thandai for the very first time during my college days. I had heard about the effects of bhaang from my family members and this was my time to experience it. After having thandai mixed with bhaang, we all had a time of our lives. One of my friends went into a state of trance and kept laughing non-stop. We were so scared that we did not want him to go home like that and we all shut his mouth to keep him from laughing. Also, we felt so hungry after having bhang that the six of us, ate around 70 gujiyas. It is an experience that I cherish a lot.
Shipra Khanna, chef and author
I had heard so much about bhaang so I was really curious to try it. It was two years ago in Mumbai. We were at a Holi party at a friend’s place where they were serving bhaang. I thought I should try it and experience what it feels like. I had bhaang thandai and loved the taste of it. After that, all I did was laugh. We were a bunch of friends, who randomly started cracking jokes and laughed at even the smallest of things that were happening. I don’t remember for how long we were under the influence of bhaang. But it was so much fun, it added a lot of excitement to the party.
Amit Talwar, designer
I hardly drink alcohol, forget bhaang. But at a Holi party my friends had mixed bhaang even in gujiya and pakoda. I ate that and nothing happened for some time but when it hit me, I was standing in the same spot for two hours thinking I am on a swing and might fall. The trip did not end there as later I almost ate 50 puris and 25 gujiya. Later while going home I carried a lot of luggage, at least ten bags of my friends, because I felt there was no gravity and if there is no weight on me, I will end up flying. It was a weird but memorable experience but I won't do it again.
Elena Roxana Maria Fernandes, supermodel and actress
The funniest bhaang related Holi has to be last year’s. So, my American friend had flown down to India for the first time and wanted to really embrace Holi celebrations. And the friend decided to try bhaang. She started running around as if she was participating in a marathon. Go on and visualise this multi-coloured American running laps. Oh, I can’t even begin to describe the comical sight. My friends and I had to pin her down and take her to the room. But it was super funny.
