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Bollywood actor and National Award recipient, Rani Mukerji has shared childhood memories of her dancing with her cousins during Durga Puja celebrations and said their aunts used to choreograph the dances.
In a conversation with ANI, Rani said celebrations have grown with time and talked about the pandal her family has been associated with. "Everything is becoming a big event, and we are going with the flow... S Mukerji's wife started it, so we are in our 79th year. This year is the 79th year..it's always this puja right from our childhood," she said. "I have so many memories. My father and my mother were very involved in this Durga Puja. At that time, the festival was organised on a small scale. In the evenings, we used to dance to Rabindra Sangeet during the entertainment programmes. Our aunts used to choreograph the dance, and all of us cousins used to dance. One night, some families would come together for a stage play, while another night had us cousins dancing to Rabindra Sangeet. Singers would also come and sing. The evenings were all about cultural programmes," she recalled. The actor shared how the families serve "bhog" and invite the "dhaaki" (drummer) from West Bengal. Rani also shed light on how her daughter, Adira, has started embracing her roots. "She understands the Bengali language a little bit. My mother speaks Bengali, we learnt it. Adira is born into a Bengali-Punjabi family, so she has to balance both of them," Rani said. Actresses and cousins Kajol and Rani Mukerji came together on Saturday to participate in their family's annual tradition. They were also accompanied by Kajol's sister Tanisha and cousin Ayan Mukerji, who appeared joyful and excited as the North Bombay Durga Puja pandal unveiled the first look of its Goddess Durga idol. Amid the celebrations, they also turned emotional while remembering Ayan Mukerji's father, Deb Mukherjee, who passed away in March 2025. Deb Mukherjee used to help organise the Durga Puja pandal every year. Besides devotees in large numbers, celebrities including Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra Jonas also arrived in the pandal. (ANI)
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