Mumbai's Dahi Handi celebrations came with an extra splash of stardust. Bollywood favourites Govinda, Riteish Deshmukh and Randeep Hooda, along with India cricketer Suryakumar Yadav, joined the festivities in the city — a crossover of cinema and sport that lit up an already electric occasion.

The sight of film stars and one of the country's most popular cricketers embracing Mumbai's most beloved street festival gave Janmashtami in the city an added charge, blending two of India's great obsessions with a tradition that needs no embellishment.

Key facts

  • Actors Govinda, Riteish Deshmukh and Randeep Hooda joined Dahi Handi celebrations in Mumbai.
  • India cricketer Suryakumar Yadav was also part of the festivities.
  • Dahi Handi is Mumbai's high-octane Janmashtami ritual, where teams build human pyramids to break a pot of curd hung high above the streets.

A tradition Mumbai calls its own

Few festivals grip Mumbai quite like Dahi Handi. Marking Janmashtami, the celebration of Lord Krishna's birth, the ritual re-enacts the young god's famous fondness for stealing butter and curd. Across the city, teams of young men known as govindas layer themselves into towering human pyramids, straining to reach a clay handi strung high overhead. One well-timed leap, a crack of the pot — and the street below erupts.

There was a touch of poetry in the celebrity roll call, too: the men who climb those pyramids are themselves called govindas, a name the veteran actor happens to share.

Star power on the streets

Celebrity appearances have long been woven into Mumbai's Dahi Handi culture, where film stars lend glamour to neighbourhood events and pull in enormous crowds. Govinda remains one of Bollywood's most cherished entertainers, while Riteish Deshmukh and Randeep Hooda bring devoted followings of their own.

Suryakumar Yadav's presence added a sporting sheen. One of Indian cricket's most explosive batters, he commands a massive fan base in Mumbai — a city that proudly claims him as one of its own.

Why it resonates

Dahi Handi has grown from a neighbourhood ritual into one of Mumbai's biggest public spectacles. When film stars and cricketers join in, the festival's pull only widens — a reminder of how deeply this celebration is stitched into the city's identity.