Harry Potter Completes 25 Years, TV Actors Share Their Childhood Memories

From being fascinated by a magical world to learning a great deal about friendship; celebrities share their best memories of reading the books and watching the films as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone completes 25 years of publication.

Sharad Malhotra: I was in school when I was introduced to Harry Potter. Our English class teacher introduced us to the series in school and during the library hours, I started reading Harry Potter and used to issue the book and take it home and return it back after reading. I was hooked on it. I loved Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone. It was a story of a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his 11th birthday.. I read this book again in lockdown 2 years back and that interested me to watch the film as well. The book taught the difference between friends and enemies. The content and the aspiration value still holds true. We all are still ambitious and want to become something and Harry Potter had a vision too.

Vijayendra Kumeria: I read Harry Potter when I was 11 years old. My classmate introduced me to the series. The first book I read was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The story was quite frightening yet interesting. From it, I learned that personal identity is important in life. And I read the book again in the lockdown. It’s relevant because even today we’re discovering ourselves. I intend to introduce Harry Potter to my daughter soon.

Manish Naggdev: I remember I was 13-14 years old when this series was released and my friends and I were quite excited to read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. My friends introduced me to the series. I only recently saw the movies again in Lockdown.  And according to me the books include a lot of information that can be accessed after more than one reading. Harry and the team have taught us a lot. Face your worries (If Ron hadn’t overcome his fear of spiders, Harry definitely wouldn’t have survived. The best way to get over your fears is to face them.) It’s crucial to have self confidence. The secret to success is having faith in your abilities. When Ron felt he had Harry’s liquid luck during his Quidditch match, he taught us this crucial lesson as it turned out; He didn’t have it, he was a champion on his own. We are still discussing these books after all these years. This isn’t something that will simply disappear; it will always exist. Harry Potter is an amazing story of friendship, coming of age, redemption, and good versus evil; it’s an iconic childhood classic. And I think ALL KIDS should read.

Aditya Deshmukh: When the first Harry Potter Part actually arrived, I was in school. I was in 6th or 7th grade I guess. I was very excited about the magical world. It was a completely different thing altogether, though it was a very mature story and I loved reading it. I have seen the trailers and the promos whenever we used to watch the cartoon network, they used to telecast the promos so many times. It was exciting to watch something like this during that time. Well, my favourite series was the Chambers of Secrets and the Goblet of fire. I really love those books and I have read them and enjoyed them. And when I had seen the film, even till today I say that thing to myself that these two books are my favourite parts as far as the movie is concerned.

Hrishikesh Pandey: I think I was in a marketing research company when I was working and we used to do interviews with a lot of college guys and girls. I think they introduced me at that time. I was in Mumbai only and that’s how it started. Philosopher stone was the book and then all started and I started reading. Must have read many others also after that two or three and then I, of course, started watching the movie only, so I got hooked on that.