When Yeti Abhijaan premiered at Quest mall on September 21, the film’s art director Tanmoy Chakraborty was nowhere to be seen. He was away in Siliguri, supervising a pandal. And on Sashthi, he was at Behala Club, taking in crowd reactions to his puja creation.

“But from Saptami for the next four days, I was in my block, chatting with friends in the park, having community lunch with neighbours and enjoying the cultural performances,” smiled the BL Block resident.

The Tollywood art director loves working on Puja pandals. “I take two months’ leave from my work in films before the Pujas. This year, I wrapped up work on Yeti Abhijaan on June 26 and in July I got busy with pandals. For us, art college students, this is the biggest chance to work on installations. And I enjoy listening to visitors comment on my creations.”

The last couple of years, he had worked on his block puja pandal. “Once I had overheard an autorickshaw driver tell passengers that if they wanted to see four pujas, he would bring them to BL Block as the fifth puja first and then take them to whichever four they wanted to visit. That was my greatest compliment.”

The Behala Club pandal this year was a snow-capped cave where Durga had retreated after killing the demon king. So the goddess was in peaceful repose without weapons. “But the biggest showpiece was a crystal ball of about  five feet diameter. And in Siliguri, the Central Colony puja drew the most crowd in its 53 years.”

He has not seen the Kakababu film yet. “In films, there is little scope to know whether people liked my work except through comments by individuals I know on social media.”

Once Kali puja is over, he will be back on the sets, having signed Kamaleshwar Mukherjee’s next film and another investigative thriller  with detective Shabar in the lead. There are TV serials too, like the on-air Sanyasi Raja on Star Jalsa.

Sudeshna Banerjee