Sanjana Sanghi on festive rituals, fashion rules and finding her own style

Sanjana Sanghi recalls Delhi Diwali traditions and multicultural roots, while opening up about festive memories,fashion choices and embracing her personal style

For Sanjana Sanghi, festivals are as much about reliving childhood memories as they are about celebrating family rituals. From decorating the house with marigold flowers and diyas to helping her family with the much-talked-about Diwali cleaning, the actor cherishes the traditions that made the festival special while growing up in Delhi. Recently, she was in town for Lakmé Fashion Week, where she closed the show for designer Shaheen Mannan.

Sanjana Sanghi

“I love the memories of the festive season, when one after the other there are so many festivals and reasons to dress up and eat good food. These days, I am especially thinking of the run-up to Diwali, when we are all engaged in the much-talked-about Diwali ki safai. And on Diwali day, when you see all the genda, all the diyas, all the decorations coming in and everyone gets together to do up the house, that fills the heart with so much joy,” she says, recalling how her mother would get stressed during the annual cleaning spree.

Living by herself in Mumbai has only made her miss home more. “Whenever I have been able to catch the chance to go back home to Delhi for Diwali, I always do that because it allows me to relive my childhood in the most special way.”

Coming from a multicultural family, Sanghi has grown up embracing different traditions. “My dadi is Punjabi, my dada is Marwari and my nana-nani are Gujarati, so I’m a mixture of all these different traditions of India,” she says, recalling playing Garba during Navratri with her maternal grandmother and playing cards with her paternal grandmother. Today, she celebrates with friends in Mumbai, decorating her home with fairy lights and diyas while praying for “general health and prosperity”.

As Sanghi closed the show for Mannan, her parents and brother cheered her on from the audience. Describing her look for the show, she says it felt “authentic yet classic and simple” — something that resonated with her personal style.

When it comes to fashion, she believes women should stop feeling pressured to follow trends. “We’ve to stop taking the pressure of subscribing to trends. I’ve never been able to understand trends.”

There are, however, a few styles she would like to experiment with. “I secretly love cute, short, tight dresses. I don’t do many of those, but they look stunning. I could pull it off; I should try that,” she says. Her wardrobe, meanwhile, is dominated by shoes, denim and white shirts.

Asked whose wardrobe she would raid for a day, Sanghi picks two stars with distinct styles: Rekha for her classic elegance and Deepika Padukone for her versatility. Over the years, her own relationship with fashion has evolved too. “I’m a lot more comfortable just being myself,” she says.