Subhash K. Jha
What Are You Doing This Diwali?

Amitabh Bachchan: "Diwali is a big occasion for us...Every year we've an open house. We throw our doors open for all our friends and family. This year both Abhishek and I will miss Diwali at home. We'll both be shooting for Karan Johar in New York."

Bipasha Basu: "I celebrate Diwali with family and friends. I just like to spend quality time with them. I'll have Laxmi pooja at home. No crackers and certainly no gambling for me, thank you! But I indulge in loads of yummy delicacies including sweets. I'm sure my new figure -conscious mind can take it for one day."

Hema Malini (actress, dancer): "This Diwali I won't be home. I'm planning to go to Bangkok to join my daughter Esha who's shooting there. 2 November is her birthday. And naturally I'd want to be with her. So I suppose we'll have a double celebration for Diwali and her birthday."

Priyanka Chopra: "My dad is ill. So I'll be spending Diwali with him in the US. Not a very happy diwali for me."

Jaya Bachchan: "I'll be in NY attending the UN assembly. My husband and son will be shooting in New York for Karan Johar's film. So there will be no Diwali at our home in Mumbai. To be honest, I'm glad. With all the devastation that has happened it looks very cruel to celebrate Diwali. Children have suffered so much. I'd rather do something to diminish their distress than celebrate Diwali."

Raima Sen: "If the entire family is together we have dinner at home and then we light diyas and have our family dinner. It's one of the highlights of the year for us. However if one or the other member of the family is traveling then the festivity seems unfinished. This year I think all of will be together except my sis who's traveling. I guess that leaves my parents all for me. Not such a sad thought, ha!"

Urmila Matondkar (actress): "No Diwali at home home for me this year. I'll be working. I'll probably be on stage dancing in the US when everyone back home will be lighting diyas and bursting crackers. But I'm not complaining. There can be no bigger joy than to be entertaining thousands of people as they applaud you for your efforts."

Anil Kapoor (actor): "This Diwali I'll be in New York with my daughter Rhea"

Adnan Sami (singer): "The best way to spend Diwali is with family and friends. And that's exactly what I plan to do."

Sonu Nigam (singer): "The best way to celebrate Diwali every year is to be at home with my parents. That's exactly what I intend to do this year too."

Madhur Bhandarkar (director): "Diwali? With my wife Renu, my mother and close friends, counting my blessings. My new film Corporate has just started to roll. I've a lot to be thankful for."

Dino Morea (tongue-in-cheek actor): "For Diwali I'll be shooting in Goa for Tom Dick & Harry. All three of us and director Deepak Tijori will do both Pooja and Aarti, and light Diya at the same time."

Lara Dutta (actress): "I'm heading for Bhutan For Diwali."

Shabana Azmi (actress, activist): "This year the Diwali party is in my brother Baba's home. Every year we have a huge open-house party...Of course our home would be decorated with diyas and flowers. Cousins come down from Hyderabad every year.So we'll all play cards in the night.

Sameera Reddy (actress): "I'll be shooting. But I'll be taking the evening off for pooja with the family.

Suneil Shetty (actor): Diwali means family, period. My parents, wife and kids. If I'm out of town I call them to wherever I am and we celebrate together. This year I'm home for Diwali. Lots of pooja, masti and fun. Both my son and daughter love the crackers. And as long as their Papa is with them they aren't frightened."

Raveena Tandon (actress, mother): "This is our first Diwali with our little Laxmi Rasha. Our daughter has brought my husband Anil and I the kind of happiness which cannot be described. Since this is Rasha's first Diwali we'll make sure it's the most memorable Diwali we've ever celebrated."

Smriti Malhotra-Irani (TV actress): "I suppose we'll have the usual Laxmi pooja and then the fireworks. What makes Diwali really special every year is the family get-together. This is the one time when we get to be together in such a happy atmosphere. This Diwali is more special than usual because both our children are old enough to understand the importance of the festival. They'll be painting diyas and pots with their Nani and helping her make chocolates. So yeah, I guess this Diwali is more special than the rest."

Nikhil Advani (director): Since the shooting of my film Salaam-e-Ishq is around the corner I'll be working on the dialogues with Sourabh Shukla for Diwali. Work is worship, I guess."

Vipul Shah (director): "Though we'll have our normal celebrations, Shefali and I are going to be out of Mumbai. We'll be going out with a college friend to a small beach resort near Mumbai. Since I'm well into my next film this is the only time I'll have to take a holiday with my wife and kids."

Sammir Dattani (actor): "I was supposed to go on a cruise with my entire family this Diwali. But now I'll have to stay back because my film Corporate will start. Anyway Diwali will be a whole lot of fun. Since I don't have any close friends in the film industry me and my close group of college and school friends will get together for a whole lot of masti."

Bindiya Dutta (former actress, wife of filmmaker J.P.Dutta): "This is the first Diwali that we're celebrating in Mumbai in the last three years. The last two Diwalis JP and I were in London with our two daughters. So we feel a little out of the loop. JP isn't a very Diwali kind of person. He has his group of close friends whom he likes over every Diwali. They don't get all noisy and boisterous. They just chill basically, have dinner, relax and talk till the wee hours. But our kids have many noisy plans. They're doing up an entire room, decorating the house with Diwali idols and figurines. The whole atmosphere in our office and at home is very charged because JP has started his new film Umrao Jaan. So yes, I feel very excited and happy this Diwali."