Discover Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata which have transitioned from conventional to high-tech artwork installations

As monsoon begins to recede, Kolkata comes undone to the autumnal hues of the month of Ashwin (seventh month of the lunisolar Hindu calendar). Like a flower, the town opens itself to the chances of artwork. Nights are charged with the fragrance of shiuli (night time flowering jasmine) and at daybreak on Mahalaya (held seven days previous to the puja festivities), playwright Birendra Kishore Bhadra’s profound invocation to the goddess rides the wind. This marks the onset of Durga Puja, a pageant that Bengal eagerly seems to be ahead to. Over time Durga Puja has grown to epic proportions with its pandals being nothing wanting ornate installations of artwork.

In 2021, UNESCO declared the pageant as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The custom of Durga Puja originated roughly across the 16^th century, held by zamindar (land proudly owning gentry) households in colonial Calcutta. Over time, the puja and puja parikrama (actions) have given the town not solely deep inventive currents but in addition new syllables that spell inclusion, festivity and joie de vivre.

In accordance with an MoU signed between the federal government of West Bengal and British Council in 2019, the inventive industries round Durga Puja in West Bengal was estimated to be at ₹32,377 crore which is the dimensions of the financial system of many smaller international locations internationally. The weeklong pageant accounts for two.58% of the state’s GDP mentioned the report.  

Anjan Ukil, joint secretary of Ballygunge Cultural, says, “Now individuals are eager to see newness. Beforehand pujas like Bagbajar Sarbojanin had the identical idol and similar pandal framework, however right this moment individuals are in search of distinction. With out distinction advertisers, sponsors don’t come forth. Beforehand we used to collect chanda (donation from neighbourhood properties) and organise puja. Now, that may be a factor of the previous as a result of pujas have such excessive budgets that chanda doesn’t suffice. So we’re completely depending on ads. Our price range for the puja is someplace between ₹60-70 lakh. Our chanda quantities to solely ₹2-3lakhs which is lower than 10% of the entire price. Earlier your entire puja used to rely on chanda.”

Anjan goes on so as to add, “Beforehand craftsmen used scraps from saris and materials to make pandals. Now skilled artists, inside decorators, and designers come collectively to design the framework. So I can not name it a ‘pandal’ anymore it falls within the class of artwork set up and public artwork. Whoever is ready to create the grandest set up attracts giant crowds, sponsors and advertisers. We’ve prize-winning artist Bimal Samanta doing up the pandal which is themed on poems which have lived on by means of the ages. “ 

In South Dumdum, Sreebhumi Sporting membership is a scorching favorite amongst pandal hoppers. With Burj Khalifa as its theme in 2021 and Vatican Metropolis in 2022, the membership has been making a sensorial expertise for its spectators with the synergy of sunshine sound, color and an awesome dimension. The membership’s theme for this 12 months is Paris Disneyland. Dibyendu Kishore Goswami, secretary of the membership says, “By social media, the entire world has opened as much as us. Individuals who journey the world return to inform tales of their experiences. Maintaining in thoughts all those that are unable to journey, we wished to recreate a mannequin that may be a worldwide vacationer attraction. If youngsters are in a position to see the mannequin, that may generate a wave of happiness.”

Most important artists of the pandal are Romeo Hazra and Sandip Hazra who give expression to creativeness. Ma durga’s idol towers above the bottom at roughly 50 toes with no adjustments in her look ever for the reason that membership’s inception in 1972. “So far as price range is worried we can not inform actual figures till all bills are carried out. Our sponsors alone generate roughly ₹1.5crore and native chanda can be there. We’re unable to incorporate Ma’s (Goddess Durga) ornaments in our price range as a result of it is vitally costly. So now we have to depend on sponsors who adorn the idol with jewelry and later take it again after the puja is over,” says Dibyendu.

Up north, in Kolkata’s Nadia district, towers a duplicate of Macau’s Grand Lisboa Lodge that’s being put collectively by Luminous Membership. Kanai Chowdhury, social media supervisor of the membership says, “The construction is 182 toes tall and is being made from buildings from buses like skirt, crib, aspect rails and vibrant reflecting glass will blanket the interiors and the mandap (platform for rituals).”

Arup Mukherjee, committee member of Luminous Membership says, “Once we began off in 1992 our theme was conventional and we needed to take permission from the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom to organise the puja. Every thing relied on Excessive Courtroom permissions and puja was held for 3 days solely with fundamental preparations. As we grew we began catering to the altering style of spectators who need to see one thing grand and surreal. Final 12 months we had constructed a duplicate of Malaysia’s Twin Towers which drew giant crowds. Pandal hoppers are all the time in the hunt for one thing new and social media has helped convey our pandal to individuals throughout the nation. I can not disclose our price range figures however this 12 months Senco Gold has sponsored Ma Durga’s pure gold ornaments.”  

With rising budgets and evolving themes, this 12 months’s festivities will transcend boundaries as two artists from the Netherlands — Martyna Maria Pekala and Benjamin Van Hoeij Schilthouwer Pompe — be part of arms with metropolis artist and sculptor Ayan Saha. Collectively, they’re creating an animated video set up at Behala Natun Dal’s pandal in South Kolkata. Ayan says that the animated video set up could be very new to the cultural panorama of Durga Puja. It should work together with the lots and bridge the on a regular basis working particular person to the world of artwork. The set up will primarily weave a narrative on what the ‘phuchka’ (Kolkata’s reply to the pani puri) means to the town of pleasure — its cultural, social and native contexts might be outlined utilizing easy motifs which might be comical, enjoyable, breezy and simply communicable. Ayan provides that Behala Natun Dal is amongst 24 neighborhood pujas which were chosen for a Durga Puja Preview Artwork pageant in Kolkata.  

Sitting like a diadem within the coronary heart of Kolkata is School Sq.’s Durga Puja. Bikash Majumdar, secretary of the membership says, “Yearly now we have a sabeki pratima (conventional idol) and the theme for this 12 months’s puja is Karnataka’s Mysore Palace. All the framework of the pandal has been conceptualised and dropped at life by Pal decorators of Santipur. The idol has been sculpted by Sanatan Rudra Pal and stands at a peak of 23 toes. The perimeter of the pandal framework is 35 by 50 toes and the idol might be positioned on a pedestal 55 toes extensive. Whereas we can not disclose actual figures of our price range, prices stand near ₹70-80 lakhs.” Bikash goes on to remember that within the preliminary years pujas have been easy and fuss-free. To witness these dramatic settings and themes, crowds begin to throng the pandals three days previous to the festivities. To regulate crowds such pujas depend on Kolkata Police and personnel from civil defence.

As the town gears up for puja, queer artist Nandini Moitra’s lately composed 80-feet-tall wall mural made by a bunch of trans individuals has seamlessly blended with the puja environs. Emblematic of the vicissitudes on the coronary heart of queerness, metropolis dwellers are speaking about it interchangably with the upcoming pandal décor within the metropolis, which speaks of an inclusive puja expertise.

Within the following weeks the outdated unnoticed sidewalks and gullies of Kolkata will come to life below violet shadows of overarching lights, made by artists of Chandannagar. And as pandal hoppers go from Gariahat junction to Santosh Mitra Sq., they by no means know what they could discover at each nook — a towering pandal, an outdated buddy or a baby blasting the bhepu (a loud mouth instrument). Beneath eaves of vibrant nights, the town offers itself over to the beats of the dhaak (drums), dance of the dhunuchis (a conventional dance with frankincense) and the trimmings of artwork, sculpture and creativity.