Dubrajpur, Oct. 7: A Durga Puja in Birbhum, where Satyajit Ray had shot scenes of two films, has modelled its idols on a scene from his movie Hirak Rajar Deshe.
Uttaranchal, a club in Dubrajpur, has modelled the idols around the theme of the oppressed subjects of Hirak Raja pulling down his statue, shouting: " Dori dhore maro taan, raja hobe khan khan (pull the ropes and the king will be broken to pieces)."
At the club's Puja, Durga's children - Kartik, Ganesh, Lakshmi and Saraswati - are seen helping Hirak Raja's subjects demolish the king's statue. On the left is an idol of Durga blessing the common people.
The organisers have kept a small Durga idol that will be worshipped by a priest in another corner of the pandal.
The club will also organise an exhibition on Satyajit Ray and his illustrious father and grandfather - Sukumar Ray and Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury. The exhibition will be opened tomorrow.
Satyajit Ray had filmed some scenes of the 1962 film Abhijan on the Mama Bhagney Pahar in Dubrajpur. He had also shot for Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen (1969) in Hetampur, 1.5km from Dubrajpur.
The secretary of the Puja committee, Subhojit Dey, said the exhibition would showcase pictures, writings and letters of the Ray trio, which were published in Sandesh, a magazine for children that was started by Uprendrakishore in 1913.
"We have heard since our childhood about Satyajit Ray shooting Abhijan in the area. So we decided we would pay tribute to him during this Puja," Dey said.
Prabhat Chatterjee, 61, a resident of Dubrajpur and a retired employee of Eastern Coalfields Ltd, said: "I was seven years old when Ray canned some scenes of Abhijan on Mama Bhagne Pahar. I had gone to watch the shooting with my father. I remember a tall man directing the actors and my father telling me the person was Satyajit Ray."
Saumitra Chatterjee, Ruma Guha Thakurta and Gyanesh Mukherjee had shot in the area.
The pandal of the 35-year-old Puja is 1.5km from the hill.
A gate built in the likeness of the one in Hirak Rajar Deshe has been set up on the way to the pandal. A replica of Jantar Mantar, the machine which the court scientist of Hirak Raja used to brainwash people in the film, has also been installed. A model of the scientist, played by Santosh Dutta, has been kept inside the machine.
"Hirak Raja is Asura at our Puja. Idols of Goopi Gayen and Bagha Bayen have also been kept in the pandal," said Biswajit Banerjee, an organiser of the Puja.
