Cut outs of human hands and designs on thermocol at Manjitila Art Corner

At a time when big budget pujas are making a statement through their mandaps made of bamboo, fabric, clay and other materials, small budget puja committees settle for the more affordable yet aesthetic thermocol art. Their pandals are made attractive using colourful thermocol designs intricately cut out from sheets.

This year Belgachhia Mansatala Barowari’s temple-shaped pandal will be decorated with figures of Nava Durga, cut out of thermocol. Inside, the pandal will be illuminated with a thermocol chandelier that will be assembled at Manjitila Art Corner at Ramrajatala.

Tanuja Das cuts out a figure of Durga from thermocol and (right) another form of Durga with eight arms takes shape at the workshop. Pictures by Gopal Senapati

The small inconspicuous studio at Ramrajatala is home to numerous thermocol designs and cutouts used at puja pandals for decoration. Huge sheets of thermocol are being cut into figures of the goddesses that will be fixed on the walls of the pandal at Belgachhia. A figure of Durga killing Mahisasura has been completed and is waiting to be painted. Another of an eight-armed goddess is on its way to completion.

Manjitila Art Corner was started by Asit Das in 1973. An engineer by profession, Asit’s hobby was to decorate small pandals in Santragachhi. Das later took up thermocol art as a profession and established his studio at Ramrajatala. However, his sudden death in January 2005 forced his wife Tanuja to take up the business. “I knew nothing about art but after my husband’s death I had to come to the studio,” said Tanuja.

Designing puja pandals is a regular task at Manjitila Art Corner. “We start getting orders for pandals from July and August and work starts from around that time. The designs have to be drawn on the thermocol sheets after which they are cut out using a thin knife. After that they are painted,” said Tanuja. The designs are sometimes theme based, making copies of monuments or structures.

“We had to make a Chinese pagoda at a puja in Baksara. We had also designed a Babri Masjid for Jatiya Seva Dal’s pandal. We made a replica of the Moscow Triumphal Gate for Dharsa Milan Sangha. Last year, we made a figure of Sarat Chandra at a pandal near Hanskhali Pole,” said Tanuja.

A pattern for the entrance to a pandal

Apart from Durga puja and other pujas, the artists at Manjitila Art Corner are always busy cutting designs for other projects. “We also design trousseaus for weddings or make cutouts of figures of personalities for schools or other organisations,” said Das.

Dalia Mukherjee