Children’s Day 2020: Child actors look back at favourite memories

Mumbai: Young stars Riva Arora, Aryan Prajapati and Jayas Kumar have looked back at their favourite childhood memories, saying bedtimes stories were an important part of their growing up years.

“Bedtime stories were a very big and important part of my life as I was growing up. Every night, these stories took me to a world of unending imagination. I could be anything that I wanted, a princess or even a ghost, which conquered my imagination power,” Riva said.

She added: “I remember in school, my friends and I used to discuss our favourite stories with each other. My friends were scared of stories about ghosts, witches and monsters but I used to love them and find them interesting. Even now at times I open my favourite fairytales and read before I go to bed. It takes me back to my childhood.”

Aryan reveals that he was fascinated with action stories.

“My favourite storyteller, like everyone else’s was my grandmother. I remember climbing into bed next to her every night and not leave till she narrated my favourite bedtime story to me. I always loved listening to stories about superheroes as these stories made me feel like one, and horror-comedy stories like ‘Bhoot Bandhus’ because these interested me to know more about ghosts,” he said.

Singer Jayas Kumar shared: “I once had a scary aunty living across the society. Every night, I used to see shadows of different animals and creatures from her window. One day, I saw the shadow of a lion suddenly changing into a dog and I screamed. My father saw me watching the window only to tell me that she is a puppeteer!” he shared, adding that he is looking forward to Nickelodeon’s “Pinaki & Happy: The Bhoot Bandhus”, a horror-comedy series that narrates the adventures of an 11-year boy living with ghosts.