New Delhi, March 5 (IANS) Holi, the hugely popular festival of colours, is a Bollywood filmmaker's favourite backdrop to unleash a riot of emotions.

Of all the myriad festivals in the country, Holi is the favourite among Mumbai-based Hindi filmmakers who use it usually as an excuse for inserting a song-and-dance sequence in which the female lead gets drenched and the male lead gets inebriated.

There was a time when every Bollywood film had a Holi song. The frequency may have reduced of late but in comparison to the near fade-out of other popular festivals like Diwali and Karva Chauth from film scripts, Holi still reigns.

The promos of the soon-to-be-released film "Delhi Heights" chiefly feature a Holi song. The film's release is appropriately timed close to the actual festival that was celebrated across northern India on Sunday.

Though the film claims to be based on lives of people in the fast-track in the Indian capital, its makers could not resist the temptation of throwing in a colourful, fun-filled number featuring the entire cast of the film including Jimmy Shergill, Neha Dhupia and Rohit Roy.

Sung by Kailash Kher and Sonu Kakkar, "Ey gori", has been ruling most music charts over the festive weekend. Come Friday and we will know whether the Holi song can lend resplendent colour to this film just as it has for more than five decades now. The festival has become an important event for nearly all soap operas on television.

Not so long ago "Waqt", "Baghban" and "Lagaan", among others, tried to recreate the magic of Holi songs. In fact, in the late 1950s - the era of early colour films - the festival provided filmmakers a welcome chance to sprinkle the screen with a splurge of colour:

"Holi ayee re Kanhai" in "Mother India" and "Arrey ja re hat natkhat" of "Navrang" were among the first couple of songs to put the festival on the silver screen.

Filmmakers also used the festival to mark a turn-point in the script. So much so that it had become a tradition that a Holi or Diwali sequel would end with news of a tragedy.

Ramesh Sippy used a Holi song, "Holi ke din dil khil jaate hain" in blockbuster "Sholay" to depict the blooming love and revelry between Dharmendra and Hema Malini, before gangsters seize the village.

Continuing the tradition, Yash Chopra's "Silsila" gave viewers one of the best ever Holi songs in which ex-lovers Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha threw inhibitions and flirted unabashedly even as their respective spouses in the film, Jaya Bhaduri and Sanjeev Kumar, looked on.

Chopra's other films with memorable Holi songs include "Mashaal" in 1984 that boasted of the still popular "Holi aayi holi aayi dekho holi aayee re". Then again in "Darr" he merged revelry with horror as obsessive lover Shah Rukh Khan sang "Ang se ang lagana sajan mohe aise rang lagana" for Juhi Chawla.

Given Indian cinema's propensity for melodrama, the festival of Holi has been utilised for conveying a range of emotions. It is effectively used by characters to cover up the pain in their lives, or to juxtapose one person's happiness with another's sorrow or even to forgive old rivals.

As scripts are evolving, however, depiction of Holi on the silver screen has gone down. Currently, Holi songs are used as item numbers in films. But as long as song-and-dance routines are an integral part of Bollywood films, Holi will continue to provide the best backdrop for unfurling of deep emotions.