Around the world in four days: Pandal themes set puja mood
Times of India | 21 September 2024
123 Kolkata: A crowd-puller pandal in central Kolkata that had showcased a replica of the Ram Mandir in 2023 will feature The Sphere of Las Vegas this year. Another pandal in north Kolkata will feature a 100-foot-high Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirupati. Yet another pandal will recreate the White House, a month before Kamala Harris takes on Donald Trump at the US elections.Though puja organisers in Kolkata have shied away from promotions till now, themes will very much be a part of the Durga Puja experience this year.
At Santosh Mitra Square which had made a replica of Ayodhya temple last year, this year the organisers are putting in place The Sphere of Las Vegas, a music and entertainment hub in Nevada. The auditorium is famous for its immersive video and audio capabilities, which include a 16K resolution wrap-around interior LED screen, speakers with beamforming and wave field synthesis technologies, and 4D physical effects. The venue’s exterior also has LED displays that the organisers are set to replicate.
“Our Durga Puja theme usually centres around a current affairs-related issue. Since there was nothing major in the news when we were planning this year’s puja, we thought of offering the city a unique and dazzling experience. Unfortunately, the RG Kar incident occurred just over a month ago and although it is too late to alter the theme, this year’s puja will be one of protest, and hence, we have refrained from promotion,” said Sajal Ghosh, BJP councillor and one of the organisers of the puja committee.
Sreebhumi Sporting in north Kolkata that is helmed by fire minister Sujit Bose and is known to recreate world monuments including the St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and Puri’s Jagannath temple, is again going spiritual and replicating the famous Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple, popularly known as Tirupati.
“The 100-foot high structure will be white on the outside and golden on the inside. There will be motifs of the presiding deity, Balaji, in the décor. We are not scaling down the grandeur or extravaganza but we have toned-down the promotions. However, we are confident that like previous years, this year too, people will love our presentation and we are going to have record footfall,” said Dibyendu Goswami, a senior member of the puja committee.
Celebrating their 55th year, Mohammad Ali Park is making a replica of the White House, the official residence and workplace of the president of the US. “People had loved our last year’s theme, Kedarnath temple. This year, we are attempting to recreate the White House that will be in focus as USA’s election season is on. We had refrained from a promotional blitzkrieg because of the RG Kar incident but now that the puja mood is setting in, we are trying to wrap up the work at the earliest and promote the theme,” said Prabhat Kumar Tiwari of the Youth Association of Mohammad Ali Park Durga Puja.
Salt Lake’s BJ block will showcase a slice of Thailand with a 70-foot-high statue of Buddha on the lines of the Big Buddha statue in Ang Thong province. The organisers were in the news last year after they had made a pandal replicating the 112-foot-high Adiyogi Shiva bust in Coimbatore but had to suspend a laser light show accompanying the puja, following concerns about safety in the sky and on the ground. “This year we are sticking to the norms set by the cops but are set to enthrall the city with the biggest statue of Gautam Buddha,” said one of the organisers.
Gouriberia Sarbojonin will feature terracotta artefacts and temples of Bishnupur while Salt Lake’s FD Block will feature pilgrimage sites like Haridwar, Varanasi, Kalighat and Kapil Muni temple in Gangasagar.