Celebrated Deepavali alone this year? Not many would say yes to that, what with Radio Hello’s super Deepavali special, where listeners got to tune in to an earful of film celebrities on a day long special, where they divulged little delicious tidbits about themselves and of course, how they like to celebrate the festival. What’s more, on October 16, Radio Hello stepped aside to stars such as Jeeva, Sunaina, Anand Raj and who not as they took over the radio station to host your favourite shows.

And add to that, special dedication contests such as Kitchen Galatta which was hosted on Anjarai Petti, invited lip smacking recipes from listeners. The winner of the best recipe got to take home a smile and even better, a Sowbhagya pressure cooker. While on the topic of contest, the Deepavali Special Dhaam Dhoom Surprise Contest had listeners get creative with their Deepavali wishes to their loved ones. The most original were played on loop through the day - on the hour, every hour.

RJ Kaushi had great fun talking to the fun and yet very serious actor Karthi, who said his Deepavali celebrations would be complete with the release of his film, Aayirathil Oruvan. Right now, he is awaiting the release of brother Suriya’s anticipated blockbuster, Aadhavan. In the studio with Karthi was director Venkat Prabhu, who recalled his childhood Deepavali celebrations, “I remember we collected all the scrap left from spent crackers and piled it in front of the house to show off how many crackers we had burst”. Also present was scriptwriter R. Murugan of Unnaipol Oruvan fame who was delighted that so many dialogues from the film had been quoted back to him. “I think my Deepavali celebrations are mainly because of the success of the film.”

Speaking of fun, RJ Deepa found that time flew when she chatted with television personalities, Dev and George. Although Dev mourned about prayer and tradition losing out to quick fix celebration and crackers, both slyly admitted that they loved celebrating Holi more. “Well, anything is better with bhang in it. And of course, the hunger pangs afterwards make you value food so much more,” said George, with a smirk.

Radio Hello celebrated Deepavali in style, opening with Aathi Choodi hosted by Seerkazhi Sivachidambaram, followed by the delectable Jeeva who hosted the very popular breakfast show, Hello Café where he admitted it was much easier to say Radio Hello’s catch phrase, ‘Hello FM, 106.4. Idhaan Right Number’ in his film Siva Manasula Shakthi (SMS). For all those who are going to get married, Jeeva advises, “Please keep some money aside for your own Diwali shopping, because after marriage it belongs to the wife”.

Actress Sunaina who hosted Chumma was her festive best at the Radio Hello station, where she sang a lot, played the bongos a little and practiced speaking Tamil with our sound engineers. The young actress particularly had a tongue twister with the Tamil word for sparklers – sursuruvathy. Needless to say, the sound engineers were encouraging while trying not to fall off their chairs in helpless laughter.

Following next was a special show just for this Deepavali, Matinee Melodies. And who better to host this mainly-music show than singers like Haricharan and Sunitha Sarathy? Next heartthrob of the moment, Nakul hosted in his inimitable style, a special show called Saravedi, while boy wonder G.V. Prakash Kumar replaced RJ Aloysious to take over Naalu Mani Vaalu. Actor Anand Raj had a fun time hosting Bigil, and off air he said that the thrill of going live on radio is next best to the adrenaline rush of bungee jumping.

Of the many heroines of the action-oriented flick Peranmai, we had Maha, Liyashree and Sharanya turn up at the studio, followed by Nizhagal Ravi who hosted Diary. Normally preferring to celebrate the festival at home, he felt that this year was equally special as he had never hosted a radio show before. “I have done many voiceovers, most memorably Amitabh Bachchan’s on Kaun Banega Crorepati for the Tamil audience. But hosting a radio show for Deepavali is certainly different!” Closing the day long fiesta was music director, scriptwriter and lyricist Gangai Amaran, who hosted the yesteryear melodies show, Hello Gramophone bringing an end to all the tiring yet exciting day.

Thought it ended there? Not on your life! A Peranmai Deepavali show had surprised listeners tuning in to hear Jeyam Ravi and director S.P. Jananathan speak about the filming of Peranmai, while Soundarya Rajinikanth spoke all about celebrating Deepavali with her superdad.