Saidya Khateeb says Diwali is a time to dress up, attend parties, eat lots of sweets and spend time with the loved ones.
Sarika Sharma
<a href="https://comicvibe.com/playstation-plus-essential-november–free-games-rolling-out-now/” title=”PlayStation Plus Essential November Free Games Rolling Out Now”>November 03, 2026 / 12:55 IST
Sadiya Khateeb
The Diplomat actress Sadiya Khateeb is just like any other girl when it comes to celebrating Diwali.
Saidya says it is a time to dress up, attend Diwali parties, eat lots of sweets and spend time with the loved ones. This time she is in Mumbai hundreds of miles away from her hometown in Kashmir and she said that the festival brings back her fond childhood memories.
She toldMoneycontrol in an exclusive chat, that lighting up diyas and playing with phuljharis alongside her siblings in their balcony is her favourite memory of her childghood.
Sadiya, who has moved away from her home to make a career in acting in Mumbai, said that Diwali does come with a sense of nostalgia.
Sadiya told Moneycontrol that she misses the winter weather back home and, most importantly, the sight of the sky illuminated with lights during the festival.
However, when it comes to bursting crackers on Diwali, the Raksha Bandhan actress said she loves to celebrate her favourite festival with diyas and light lanterns.
Talking about her Diwali plans, Sadiya said she wants to take a week off and attend as many Diwali parties as possible and also wear her favourite outfits. She also said that during Diwali she doesnt worry about the calorie intake.
“I have to take a day off, I have to take a week off and attend all these Diwali parties till I hop some 2000 calories and wear my favourite outfits, feel like a patakhas, live like a light bulb during those days,” she said.
Ask her about the one sweet she cannot resist, and she says: “That one sweet which I cannot resist on that day is Kaju Katli, I love Kaju Katli and gulab jamun.”
But for Sadiya, the most special part of Diwali are the memories of celebrating it as a child.
“Bachpan mein diyas and phuljhari ghoomana in my balcony with my siblings that is something that I always look back sitting in my balcony and looking at the sky with my family, the lit sky is something that really makes me nostalgic that’s something I personally don’t do because I worry about our environment but that memory is something which is very beautiful,” she recalls.
While she misses the childhood excitement and the festive atmosphere of her hometown, Sadiya said she doesn’t wish to go back to bursting crackers at all as she worries about pollution.
“I miss my home. I miss the winter weather which used to be there in my hometown during Diwali. I only miss the sky lit up part. I worry and I think of pollution and environment more which I feel diyas and there are other ways to have a lit sky, maybe lanterns instead of polluting them,” she said.
And does she ever feel like becoming that carefree child again and bursting crackers? Sadiya says no.
“No, no I don’t want to turn that bachcha again. I want to be a responsible citizen and light lot of Diyas and celebrate with food, good lights, love only in the most healthy, eco-friendly, environment-friendly, responsible way.”
Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, is going to be celebrated in India on november 8 this year.
Sarika Sharma is Editor, Entertainment, MoneyControl.com. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of entertainment journalism.
first published: Nov 3, 2026 12:50 pm
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