On 24 March India celebrated the Hindu festival of Holi, which sees thousands take to the streets to indulge in a giant coloured water fight. This year a number of people have raised concern about unnecessary water wastage during the festival, urging people to play just with colours and have a "dry Holi".

The concerns sparked India's Videocon Group to launch the Twitter hashtag #SaveWaterForBetterThings on the day of the festival, which quickly began trending nationwide. While many used the hastag to raise awareness about water wastage, some took offence at the Twitter campaign and hit back at it.

One user stated: "Yes, #SaveWaterForBetterThings but [only] for the rest of 364 days... Why [do] we target our beautiful culture for all these?"

Despite the backlash, a number of people appeared to have committed to a dry Holi. India's Bollywood celebrities also joined in the calls for less water wastage during this year's festivities, urging people to stick to dry coloured powders.

Holi 2016
Many Indians opted for a 'dry Holi' this year over concerns about a worsening water shortage in some parts of the country Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Abhishek Bachchan was one of the Bollywood stars to echo the sentiments of the #SaveWaterForBetterThings campaign, telling his fans on Twitter: "I know it's tough but please try and play a dry Holi." Alia Bhatt, Shraddha Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Shekhar Kapur and Jai Singh Rathore also joined in the calls for a dry Holi.

Akshay Kumar urged people to think about those who face droughts in India, saying:"Do keep in mind the water scarcity problem in our country... opt for a dry Holi!"

Despite the pleas from India's top celebrities, many appeared to remain unconvinced of the save water campaign. While some questioned why people are not urged to save water on the other days of the year, others complained that while Hindus were being urged not to play with water on their festival, no one was paying attention to the amount of water used by the meat industry.

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