(Left) Navadurga that has been pasted on the wall of the pandal at Olabibitala Sarbajanin Durgotsav Committee and (right) Subodh Roy at the pandal. Pictures by Gopal Senapati

Theme décor is de rigueur for Durga puja pandals, whether on the east or the west bank of the Hooghly. Big and small clubs pour in their hard-earned funds, as corporate sponsorships dwindle, to compete with each other in themes, ideas and concepts that range from the simple and aesthetic to the most complex and sometimes bizarre. Ideas, décor and presentation are key to creating a holistic work of “installation art”, as art historian Tapati Guha Thakurata calls the theme pandals. She said, “I will track the proliferation through different neighbourhoods of the city broadly three types of tableaux - architectural and archaeological and replicas, craft and folk art villages, and a third type that calls itself ‘conceptual’ or ‘installation art’ - to see how the local and the global, the vernacular and the corporate enmesh within these trends” at a lecture at the Hiedelberg University titled ‘Durga Puja Tours and Travels: Vignettes from a Contemporary Urban Festival’.

The public festival creates these temporary art works that draw not just the crowds but also the awards that are markers for excellence and so, attract funds and sponsorships that are sorely needed by the puja committees. The competition in the past few years have gotten tougher as players (read artists) proliferate mainly from the Government Art College and beyond, who have come to make a name for themselves at this very public art event, the Durga puja.

The first to come to Howrah with his theme expertise was Gouranga Kuilya, who had been the artist for Olabibitala Sarbojanin Durgotsav Committee for some years. Bantra Sammelani raised the bar last year by hiring Bhabatosh Sutar to design their first ever theme pandal. This year, three artists from Calcutta, Subodh Roy, Amar Sarkar and Bandan Raha are working in Howrah and everyone in Howrah is waiting to see the final result.

Olabibitala Sarbojanin Durgotsav Committee has introduced Subodh Roy to Howrah this year. This year’s theme is titled, Shaktirupey Surjamukhi. The pandal has been shaped like a sunflower and numerous butterflies are seen flying to the flower from a distance. The pandal will not only look colourful in the day, but will also have attractive illumination at night. The centre of the sunflower, which is at the top of the pandal, will be made with numerous faces that will glow at night. The entire interior has been done with huge foam cutouts of petals and leaves of the sunflower alternating with images of the Navadurga. The idol has also been placed at the centre of a sunflower.

Although he has been working for some years on themes, Roy shot to fame last year with his camel and desert theme at Behala Buroshibtala Janakalyan Sangha. However, when the members of Olabibitala Sarbajanin had approached him this year, Roy had disagreed at first.

“We approached Subodh Roy around January this year and he did not agree in the beginning. He was sceptical about working in Howrah, primarily because of the distance. However, when we spoke to him later, he agreed,” said Akhilbandhu Bhattacharya, a member of the puja committee.

Roy’s theme comes from the concept of energy. “The sun is the biggest source of energy or power on earth and the sunflower is symbolic of the sun. Since Durga is the goddess of power, I decided to merge the two together,” said Roy. Although he is the main designer of the theme, Roy’s assistant, Krishna Kumar Guchait is supervising the work in Howrah. “The members of the club are very sincere. Although they are working on a tight budget, they are trying to co-operate as much as possible,” said Roy. Olabibitala is Roy’s third project after Mudiali Shibmandir Sarbajanin Durgotsav and Behala Sree-Sangha Sarbajanin Durgotsav, this year.

Durga puja themes by Amar Sarkar draw crowds in Calcutta, since he is a veteran in this field. However, this is the first time that he is working in Howrah. He is creating the theme at two clubs in Howrah, Kamardanga Sitalatala Barowari and Subol Smriti Sangha in Bantra. Kamardanga Sitalatala Barowari, who have been working on themes by themselves every year, decided to hire Amar Sarkar for their pandal this year.

Its their 28th Durga puja. They are working together with the artist, completing orders as per his requirement.

“Amar Sarkar has given us the design of the pandal at a much later date, since he took some time to decide what to do with the little space that we have. He needed to make something that would stand out from among the buildings and structures in the locality. Designs have changed and the budget has exceeded our limits,” said Debasish Mullick, a member of the barowari committee. The theme that is mainly a play of light and colours of the rainbow, required a lot of iron rods for the structure.

Conical oil cans have been used to make cones over the dome-like structure in the middle of the pandal. Each of the cones will emit light from inside, producing colourful light effects all through the pandal. The outer ring of the pandal, from where visitors will enter, has a colourful gallery with tiny crystals hanging from the top. “The club has been doing themes for some time, so they have an idea about how it is done. Since most of them are iron traders, I asked them to make the structure for me. It was easy for me to source the materials from Howrah itself,” said Sarkar.

Subol Smriti Sangha is doing a theme puja for the first time. They are being initiated by Sarkar. The theme on lotus flower has been designed by him. The entrance to the pandal is a sea of lotus flowers in various colours. LED lights will be used to illuminate the interior and the corrugated tin sheets that have been used to cover the mandap, have been left bare. “The light will reflect on the tin and produce a great effect inside the pandal,” said Sarkar. “It has been a good experience working in Howrah. It was a challenge for me to do lotus flowers amidst factories and iron workshops in Howrah,” said Sarkar.

Bandan Raha shot to fame with his bhanr-er (earthen cups) pandal at Bosepukur Sitala Mandir in 2001. Thousands had thronged the pandal through night and day to see his work. This year, Raha is designing the pandal for Bantra Sammelani. He has thought of an elaborate theme on Navratri and has tried to reproduce the ambience of the festival celebrated in Gujarat.

The pandal looks like a temple complex where the central temple is of Durga and eight other forms of the goddess are on either side of the complex. At the entrance is a Hanuman temple. The central natmandir is the venue for live dandiya performances every evening.

The entire pandal has been illuminated with tiny bulbs fitted in earthen diyas. The idol looks as if it has been carved out of marble, as is seen in temples. The walls have been decorated with colourful murals and inside the temples there are painted figures of gods and goddesses. The idols are all made of clay.

“This is my only project this year which is why I am giving my best to it. I want people to feel that they have come to witness a festival in another state,” said Raha.

The committee members had approached Raha in the beginning of the year and he decided to work on this pandal only. This is the first time that he has crossed the river to work in Howrah.

“Work is all the same whether in Howrah or Calcutta. But yes, I feel that people here are also catching up in terms of ideas and concepts. I have not faced any problem while working here,” said Raha.