From Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... to Taare Zameen Par, these movies captured the most iconic moments on Diwali

The festival of lights, Diwali is almost here. As the air is brimming with the aroma of traditional 'mithai' and fireworks (unfortunately), Bollywood too, is gearing up for festivities, with their trademark big fat Diwali parties, that have already commenced. On-screen, the festival has been portrayed in all its fervour, replete with massive decorations, designer outfits, customary song and dance and more. Apart from that, some iconic Bollywood scenes too, have become synonymous with the festival and today, we go revisiting some...

But obviously, this Karan Johar family saga had to be on top of our list. It starts off by Rahul and Rohan's (SRK and Hrithik) paternal grandmother telling Rohan why Rahul left the house and it was his last Diwali with them. Soon, the scene enters flashback and the Raichand Mansion is lit up in all its glory, as mum Nandini (Jaya Bachchan) gives aarti to everyone. Suddenly Rahul, in full KJO dramatic style, makes an entry in his private jet in a dapper all-black look, even as his mum already has an intuition of his arrival! A classic, we must add.

Under the umbrella of the strict disciplinarian Narayan Shankar (Amitabh Bachchan), Gurukul has remained no more than a glorified prison for its students. Enter the charming music professor Raj Aryan (SRK) and the winds of the institution begin to flow backwards, as the students start exploring the world outside and fall in love, much to the chagrin of Narayan Shankar. Things come to a head on Diwali, when the young lovers shed their inhibitions and profess their love in front of the world, even as SRK plays the 'duniya mein kitni hai nafratein' song on his dhol.

A fry cry from the usual Diwali fanfare, this one was hard-hitting and heart-breaking. Raghu, earlier a simple, local Marathi boy in Mumbai, becomes a dreaded gangster, even as his middle class family struggles to come to terms with this transition and more or less disowns him. Nevertheless, Raghu, who stays underground for most of the year, visits his family each Diwali and on one such occasion, shows off to his mother that he is wearing a 'pachaas tola sone ki chain'. Eventually, at the end of the movie, completely tired by all his suffering, he asks his mother to shoot him and give him 'mukti', bringing to end a miserable life.

This one is special since kids are usually the most excited for festivals such as Diwali - with lights, scrumptious food and lots of masti. However, life isn't easy for 8-year-old Ishaan Awasthi, who suffers from Dyslexia, but remains undiagnosed, becoming the object of ridicule at school. At home, while his sibling and mother are supportive, his father thinks he is just shirking studies and decides to pack him off to boarding school. Knowing that he will be gone soon, Ishaan spends Diwali at home crying in a corner, unable to make his family understand that he is not putting up an act. At school, he meets Arts teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), and life finally starts to make sense again.