​Mumbai, March 3 (IANS) As we celebrate the festival of Holi, celebrity chef and filmmaker Vikas Khanna revealed through his latest social media post how his trip to Vrindavan back in 2011 during Holi inspired his film, “The Last Color”.

Vikas shared that while everyone else was enjoying the festival of colors, he observed a group of women, dressed in white, with not a single trace of color on them. These were the widows of Vrindavan.

Heartbroken after seeing this, he ended up writing a short story, which became a novel and eventually turned into a full-fledged film.

Sharing the incident in his own words, the Chef penned on his official Insta handle, “It all began on Holi, 2011 — in Vrindavan. A festival of colors. And yet… I saw women who were denied even a single shade.

The widows of Vrindavan — dressed in white, living in silence — while the world around them exploded in pinks, yellows, and blues. That moment hurt my soul. That day, I wrote a short story. It became a novel. It became a film — The Last Color. (sic)”

Shedding light on the impact the film ended up having on the ground level, he went on to add, “What followed was beyond anything I imagined. Launching the first look at Cannes Film Festival. Nearly 100 international film festivals. A special screening at the United Nations Headquarters — to a standing ovation. An invitation to speak at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., advocating for improved livelihoods for widows. Becoming Global Ambassador for Widows with Global Widows. Eligibility for the Academy Awards 2020.But the greatest lesson was not the accolades. It was inclusion. The power of allowing someone to belong to a festival. To a color. To joy. That belief later became the foundation stone of Bungalow — where no celebration is complete unless everyone has a seat at the table.”

Vikas concluded the post saying, “Holi is not only about colors, it’s about inclusion. And everyone deserves it.”

–IANS

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