Mar 30, 2025 09:42 AM IST
For actor Isha Koppikar, every festival is special. She shares her how she looks forward to the rituals and shares her grandmother’s philosophy on Gudi Padwa
Gudi Padwa is the Maharashtrian New Year and signifies an auspicious start to the year ahead. The festival is all the more special for actor Isha Koppikar, as the day also marks her parents’ marriage anniversary.
Though Mangalorean by heritage, actor Isha Koppikar was born and raised in Mumbai, where she has always celebrated Gudi Padwa every year, marking an auspicious start to the year ahead.
“Gudi Padwa is all about new beginnings, but for me, the festival is extra special as it’s my mummy-papa’s anniversary. They got married on Gudi Padwa,” the 48-year-old tells us. Isha speaks fluent Marathi and looks forward to partaking all the rituals of this festival, including gudi’s pooja and haldi-kumkum. “Mujhe har tyohar ka rass uthane mein mazaa aata hai. Har festival khaas hai,” she says.
Her fondest memory linked to the festival is from her childhood, when her grandmother fed her something bitter: “I used to ask her, ‘New year hai Gudi Padwa, toh meethe se shuru hona chahiye, aap kadwi cheez kyun khilate ho?’ She’d say that to experience sweetness — be it in life or food — one needs to know the bitterness, too.Woh philosophy kuch kuch samajh aai. In life, you understand the importance of happiness only when you go through a patch of struggle, sorrow but ap mujhe nahi chahiye.”
Filled with gratitude towards life, the actor shares, “God knows what I want, all I want is jo bhi aaye woh barkat se aaye. And with the blessings of my parents.”
Isha shares how her daughter, Rianna Narang, loves celebrating festivals with her but she has her own way of doing it. She says, “My daughter loves festivals and donning Indian outfits. But now as she is turning 11, she has a certain way she wants to dress.”
