Actor Swwapnil Joshi, who played the titular role in the show Shri Krishna as a teenager, feels that playing such a character helped him build a deep emotional bond with the deity.

On the occasion of Janamashtami, the 44-year-old actor tells us about his experience of essaying the role of Lord Krishna on the small screen. He says, “I believe that as an actor when you do certain characters, they take away a part of your soul, but when you play such divine roles, they add to your existence.”

Joshi also talks about the response that the show and his character received back in the day, when it was still on air in the ’90s. He shares, “There would be huge crowds (Krishna devotees) outside my house as well as on the sets where people used to come just to catch a glimpse of me or take blessings. Ramanand (Sagar) ji, the show creator, said to me, ‘It’s not you that they are coming to, it’s the divine character that you are essaying that is pulling them towards you…Remember you are just a medium’.” He further adds, “I feel delighted to see how people still see me as a medium between them and the divine incarnation.”

Joshi, who began his journey in the showbiz as a 9-year-old and has been a part of other mythological shows as well like Uttar Ramayan sums up, “Be it the role of Kush in Uttar Ramayan or Shri Krishna that went on to become a cult, both came finding me.”

With Dahi Handi fervour in the air, we can’t help but remember how Bollywood has celebrated this festival on the big screen. It has been 10 years since Sonakshi Sinha featured in one of Bollywood’s most memorable and recent Dahi Handi numbers. She matched Prabhu Dheva step for step in the song, Go Go Govinda, in the Akshay Kumar-Paresh Rawal-starrer OMG: Oh My God (2012). Even though a decade has passed since the film released, people continue to dance to this number during the celebrations.

Reminiscing the time she shot the number, Sonakshi says, “It’s one of those experiences you can never forget! I remember I was so excited to get the opportunity to dance alongside Prabhu Dheva sir, and had absolutely loved the song when I first heard it. We rehearsed for about a day, and while shooting, it was all about having fun and living in the moment. It turned out to be one of the most memorable song shoots of my entire career. I remember when we were deciding on the clothes for the song, Ashley Rebello gave me a blouse, and because the choreography was so dance-heavy, I wanted to wear my own jeans and shoes just to be comfortable. I ended up wearing my favourite pair of jeans. Little did I know what they would look like once the song was done… with all the colour in the air. I could never use those jeans and shoes again and I still miss them!”

Towards the end of the song, Sonakshi is even seen breaking the handi. Sharing her thoughts on how there has been a rise in the number of women-led teams participating in this ritual, she says, “I find it amazing when I see pictures and videos of all the women-led teams participating in Dahi Handi and the way they make these huge human pyramids is so commendable and exciting to watch. I guess it’s up to the girls who actually want to do it; there really isn’t anyone stopping them from doing so. The ones we see are the ones who want to do it and I think it’s great! The numbers are slowly but surely increasing as well, so that’s a good thing! There shouldn’t be a gender bias in anything.”

Talking about what she enjoys the most about the festival and her earliest memory of Janamashtami celebrations, the actress adds, “I really enjoy watching the matki phod moments, and I had never actually done it myself until I did the Go Go Govinda song... which is another reason why it is so special! But I do remember eating lots of white makkhan during the festival while growing up. Now, there’s usually a pooja at home, and then we hit the road to watch people break the matkis! The energy and vibe of the people during the Dahi Handi festival is really infectious and it’s wonderful to watch them go for the matki!”