The Ultadanga area
Ultadanga Bidhan Sangha
Year: 57th
Budget: Rs 25 lakh
Theme: Srishtisukh
The artist: Purnendu Dey
The look: Recycled materials, ranging from oil cans, punctured balls, torn sacks and crumpled plastic bottles, are being used to decorate the pandal. A couple of installations have been created of figures, made of seats of chairs and pipes, riding discarded cycles. The chandelier above the idol is also made of chair seats. A giant bird is perched atop the entrance, made of recycled materials.
Telengabagan
Year: 60th
Budget: Rs 25 lakh
Theme: Achalayatan
The artist: Parimal Pal
The look: The pandal cocks a snook at superstitions using augmented reality. A big harikath reminds one of the sacrifice of life in rituals. The head of Rahu gobbles the moon, as in the mythological account of lunar eclipse, forming the backdrop of the stylized idol. A girl stands with a garland. See her through your smart phone after scanning the puja’s QR code and she walks with a sullen face to marry a banana plantain, to offset the inauspicious marks of a Mangolik wedding. Several other practices are critiqued, too, using technology. A live performer cycles and suddenly breaks on a platform on the wall. Those watching him through their phone would watch a cat cross his path. All around the pandal stand columns in which books, symbolizing scientific knowledge, is getting sandwiched under the weight of the concrete of superstition. Oversized lime and chilli, that are used to offset the inauspicious, hang at the pandal entrance over which is set a cracked mirror, another supposedly bad omen.
Dakshindari Youths
Year: 25th
Budget: Rs 80 lakh
Theme: Dahan
The artiste: Anirban Das
The look: In its silver jubilee year, the pandal highlights a scourge — acid attacks on women. Over the façade of a pandal covering a huge playground, are black and white sketches of faces of women protesting against this heinous form of retribution of jilted male pursuers that ruins the lives of the women they unsuccessfully pursue. Inside forming a semi-circular backdrop of the idol, are sketches of women noted for their beauty down the ages — Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, the women in the Ajanta caves, Raja Ravi Varma’s Shakuntala, women in Mughal miniatures etc. The illustrations look like etchings, with the fine lines being a subtle reminder of the wrinkled skins of the acid attack victims. The artist deliberately does not show women defaced by acid burns, who are created in relief on the pillars, some standing, some seated on their haunches, but they are mostly covered by jute sacks, possibly to show how they are forced to go into hiding and also not to jar the festive ambience. Women performers will come forward reciting a poem called Agun Debir Gaan and finally four real-life acid attack victims among them will address the audience.
Golaghata Sammilani
Year: 47th
Budget: Rs 35 lakh
The theme: Break fail
The artist: Manas Roy
The look: The focus is on the effects of parents’ divorce on children. The various emotions and conditions that cause division — ego clash, quarrel, temptation, suspicion, extra-marital affair etc — are written on large saws, juxtaposed with giant scissors, both of which sever ties. A procession of children walk along a wall, with one of them holding a poster that says “Amader kotha keu bhabbe na? (Will no one think of us)”, pointing to the way children of failed marriages suffer without their fault. One wall has a Kalighata pata of a hookah-smoking babu in a dalliance with a courtesan and another of a homemaker wife, proving that such cracks in marriages happened even in earlier ages when divorce was not that common. A sewing machine works away at mending relationships on another wall.
A USP of the pandal is a one-minute film on hand-shadowgraphy by Amar Sen showing a couple falling apart and brought together again by their child. The deity is part of a happy family, in Ganesh janani form with Durga’s other children crowding around her as her husband Shiva is lounging at a level below. The backdrop is formed by the art work of 400 local children who took part in a sit and draw on My family in My Eyes.
Lake Town
Lake Town Adhibasibrinda
Year: 63rd
Budget: Rs 25 lakh
Artist: Subal Pal
Theme: Tobu Mone Rekho 2
The look: The artist has presented a second version of a pandal he had created in Hatibagan Nabin Pally in 2018, hence the name. The pandal is a library and the pages are taking a flight of fancy in origami formations that are hung in a cluster. A treadle letterpress machine stands in the middle, harking back to an era when books were a favourite companion. The theme bemoans the waning of the reading habit in today’s youngsters.
Sreebhumi
Year: 53rd
Budget: Undisclosed
Artist: Romio Hazra
The look: The pandal is modelled on the Swaminarayan temple in New Jersey. It rises to a height of 120ft and replicates the intricate carvings on the original by creating prefabricated pieces of foam and fibre that are then set appropriately. Lights from Chandernagore will lead visitors from an arch at the entrance to Sreebhumi that will be inaugurated before the Puja. Pradip Rudra Pal’s idol is powerful and gorgeous as always, and will be decked up in diamond jewellery. The opening will be done by the chief minister on September 20 but the pandal will open to the public on Sunday at 8pm.
Baguiati-Kestopur area
Kestopur Prafulla Kanan
Year: 23rd
Budget: Rs 25 lakh
Theme: Binyas
Artist: Krishanu Pal
The look: An attempt has been made to create a recyclable pandal with sustainable materials. One walks in through an arch of paved bricks. In gaps on its walls are placed steel mugs. A banyan tree is scaffolded, indicating “development” stifling Nature. A turn brings one face to face with a barrier of logs planted in a mound of clay, symbolizing a forest, and by extension, Nature. In its midst is placed an LED screen on which flames are shown to be burning. Next to it, curved on a flat surface are lines from Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Pata, lamenting how our efforts are as futile as drawing water in a pail with holes at the bottom. On both sides of the idol, iron buckets are suspended from the roof by a pulley system and are constantly being dipped in the water tank below and pulled up, only for the water to leak out through holes at their base.
Dakshinpara Durgotsab
Year: 65th
Budget: Rs 60 lakh
Artist: Debashis Barui
Theme: Probahi – The flow within
The look: Human life is a flowing entity. Walk into the pandal on a ramp under a series of bells hanging overhead, which announces a devotee’s entry to a temple.
Aswininagar Bandhumahal
Year: 45th
Budget: Rs 72 lakh
Artist: Samrat Bhattacharjee
Theme: Bangla O Bangali
The look: A scene from post-Partition Bengal, of a steam engine teeming with refugees, is painted in monochrome on a side of the facade. On the other side are terracotta tiles inspired by the temples of Bishnupur and elsewhere. Inside, a cutout of a terracotta temple stands next to a painting of Ma Sarada. The deity wears a simple red-bordered white taant sari.
Railpukur United Club
Year: 72nd
Budget: Rs 20 lakh
Artist: Somnath Tamli
Theme: Shabdo
The look: Once upon a time, bird calls were an inseparable part of our daily rhythm. As dawn broke, the chirping of birds welcomed the rising sun, and at dusk, their calls announced the homecoming hour. Even in the silence of the night, nocturnal birds pierced the stillness. Today such sounds are rarely heard. The club highlights how rapid urbanisation, rampant tree felling, and the construction of highrises have destroyed natural habitats. Birds, which depended on trees for shelter, are gradually disappearing – and with them, their calls too. To deliver this message, the pandal will feature a towering 20-feet-tall artistic representation of birds. The experience will include mime performances by Shubhendu Mukhopadhyay and Kaushik Biswas.
Dum Dum Park
Yubak Brinda
Year: 59th
Budget: Rs 12 lakh
Artist: Arun Sutar
Theme: Parbon
The look: The courtyard is done up as a Bengal village abuzz with traditional festivities. A huge dhaner gola stands in the middle. On the sides, patachitra paintings, depicting bhadu, tusu, chadak rituals etc, have been painted by Moloy Chitrakar of Pingla, who received the President’s Award in 2025.
Tarun Sangha
Year: 40th
Budget: Rs 70 lakh
Artist: Anirban Das
Theme: Ek pandel Byomkesh
The look: Saradindu Bandyopadhyay’s sleuth Byomkesh Bakshi holds centrestage at this spectacular pandal where idea matches execution. Painted houses stand side by side, with the walls turning into pages of graphic novels with illustrated panels and speech blurbs highlighting key moments of the novel the house is sited in. Big cutouts of a revolver, a porcupine and a cannon are reminders of Roker Dag, Sojarur Knata and Durgo Rahasya respectively. Actors dressed as Byomkesh’s assistant Ajit and wife Satyabati appear as narrators and inform the visitors that Byomkesh has been called to probe the theft of the goddess’s necklace in the house. This is the idol that is being worshipped, painted in the same sepia tone as the rest of the pandal. His first case, Pather Knata, is presented on stage with performers turning giant pages of a pop-up book.
Bharat Chakra
Year: 25th
Budget: Rs 1.3 crore
Theme: Tanmatro, the aura
Artist: Susanta Paul
The look: Access to the bastion of rusting iron sheets was restricted till the time of going to press. Entry will be ticketed till September 22.
Dum Dum Park Sarbojanin
Year: 74th
Budget: Rs 13.5 lakh
Artist: Riju Kar
Theme: Haraye Khuji
The look: The artist has travelled to village haats in Karimpur, Nadia, and Neelgunge, near Barasat. He has studied their lifestyles and also clicked them at work. The result is there to see in a pandal that hardly looks like the first independent project of the young sculptor who till last year assisted Pradip Das, who is known in the Puja circuit for his research-based projects. He has used a variety of materials to depict the economic, social and cultural aspects of the haat. Glass painting in line art has been used overhead near the entrance while elsewhere a part of the wall has a mural which has been broken into collage pieces, some of which jut out. Hands are clasped in relief curved out of a wooden panel which is placed at the top of the structure housing the deity. On one side, stands a bullock cart, with Tagore’s inevitable lines on Haat inscribed at a side and on the other, stands a vano, a ramshackle mode of transport that ferries agricultural produce to the haat. A 50 ft wall on the far side has a monochromatic illustration of the vegetable seller in the haat which is overshadowed in area to show the switch to malls and the app-based delivery system in urban areas, with bikers carrying veggies to consumer homes. Tiny terracotta sculptures of village figures would be placed at key points.
Tarun Dal
Year: 48th
Budget: Rs 75 lakh
Artist: Purnendu Dey
Theme: Chhap
The look: Impressions of all kinds are what the pandal is done up with. One starts with modern-day imaging techniques, like scanning of luggages, fingerprints and casting of vote on ballot paper. Hand prints are present in the most primitive forms, like seals of ancient civilisations, as also the most prevalent form in villages, in cowdung cakes. Sandcasting is another form used as tiles. The stamp of authority is shown in three stages — Hindu rule, Mughal rule and British rule — much of it using postage stamps of the independent states and then British and independent India, which used woodcut prints for both emblems and figures of individuals, who fought against the British like Aurobindo Ghosh and Rani Laxmibai. Above all impressions, the one we yearn for is of the mother goddess’s footstep at the puja site. The outer bounds of a 14 ft long female footstep form a pool of water in which waves are created mechanically. The idol is deep red, like a dye cast in lac. The processes of casting and scanning will be shown in a short film on a screen.
KANKURGACHHI
Chalantika
Year: 64th
Budget: Rs 17.5 lakh
Artiste: Ratnadeep Pramanik
Theme: Tiktiki
The look: Four popular sleuths are represented inside — Feluda, Kiriti, Byomkesh and Mitin Mashi — through shadow performances of live characters playing their persona behind the curtains of four booths. One walks in through the frame of a microscope and faces the barrel of a revolver as to the tiktiki, which is a slang for detective, everyone is a suspect. Up on top, a murder spot is shown to be barricaded while another side shows a car accident, through shells of heavily dented vehicles. Inside, a whodunit is unraveling with one side following the criminal’s trail as mini models of houses carry captions of a theft of a diamond and subsequent murders. The other side follows the detective’s thought process as he probes the crimes. The idol stands in the middle, with both sides seeking divine intervention to succeed.
Mitali
Year: 89th
Budget: Rs 26 lakh
Artiste: Ayan Pal
Theme: Shokher Bazar
The look: The pandal is inspired by the bazaar that sits on the spot round the year but is displaced for three months for Durga puja. The main element is a typical shopping bag towering at 25ft brimming with vegetables which peep over the edge. The puja is also a tribute to local resident Pratul Mukhopadhyay, who passed away in February. Club members recall him coming to the bazaar even at the height of the pandemic, refusing to order vegetables online as he wanted to meet the vegetable-sellers. There is a reference to his song Alu becho potol becho inside. A two-wheeler is parked at a height, and from its back float out vegetables, in a nod to bike delivery boys from e-commerce sites.
Kankurgachhi Jubak Brinda
Year: 96th
Budget: Rs 45 lakh
Artist: Papai Santra
Theme: Onam
The look: Kerala’s biggest festival has been brought alive right from the entrance where a lifesize canoe hangs overhead, next to an illustration of the celebrated boat races. Onam-special dances are represented through illustrations — Pulikali through tiger masks and Kaikottikali through dancers in white saris with coloured narrow borders. The goddess stands with a background of banana leaves, typical of Kerala, while live performances will take place at a side. The pandal walls also resemble the surfaces of banana stems.
BELEGHATA
Sandhani
Year: 56th
Budget: Rs 30 lakh
Artist: Somnath Dalui
Theme: Porshi
The look: Weather-beaten letter boxes stand as witness to an era where neighbourly feelings thrived. Walk into the pandal and look up to find old familiar faces who would be like family. But all around it is only cubby hole-like apartments in which solitary figures stay disconnected from neighbours who share nothing but the stairs. A cutout of a huge pair of scissors hang on the wall, symboling the cut in bonds. Durga and her three children are in dancing poses while Ganesh stands inside an apartment. A piano stands on the floor with cutouts of the skyline rising from its opened lid
33 Palli
Year: 25th
Budget: Rs 60 lakh
Artist: Sibshankar Das
Theme: Teen Teen Sorto Teen
The look: The pandal pushes for three basic demands of mankind — food, clothes and shelter. One walks in by giant shopping lists hanging from the top of an installation of shopping carts, full of products purchased, placed one atop the other. Another side is shaped like a maize, of which each grain is a sack of supplies. Earthen handis, blackened with soot, hang from the ceiling. Jars of spices stand in racks. After food, the next section is clothes with saris hanging on top. A grain-crushing machine is installed here. Another installation of spoons has some golden ones amid the normal steel ones, indicating a disparity between rich and poor. The buildings all around carry linear illustrations of people making demands relating to these three basic requirements. The idol stands outside the pandal, across the alley in a separate shelter, in white with steel frames indicating a drawing that celebrated artiste Ganesh Haloi has created for it.
Swapnar Bagan
Year: 72nd
Budget: Rs 15 lakh
Artist: Amit-Arindam
Theme: Drishtikon
The look: Illustrations bring out how people of different backgrounds and circumstances view Durga puja at this pandal located in an alley on Maniktala Main Road.