Hardly a fortnight before his death, Tapas Sen had told Metro that his greatest dream was to see the Howrah bridge all lit up, anew.

?The icon of Calcutta, Rabindra Setu (Howrah bridge), will shimmer in all its glory against the night sky before Kali puja? This will be under the open sky, a giant affair, nothing like what I have done so far,? Sen had said excitedly.

After a 60-year-old career that included not just remarkable lighting effects on stage but son et lumiere shows at various monuments, the ailing octogenarian had been aesthetic adviser of the Howrah bridge illumination project, undertaken by the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) and Philips Electronics India Ltd.

On Thursday, officials involved with the project confirmed that the show would go on, and in Sen-style.

?His death has come as a great shock to all of us, especially since he had been working on this for over two years. I remember how delighted he was when I had asked him to take up this project,? said CPT chairman A.K. Chanda. ?But it was destined to be Sen?s unfinished symphony. There will, however, be no change in plans and I have already told the designing and engineering teams that their responsibilities have doubled because they now have to see that they fulfil Sen?s dream just as he had visualised it.?

Sudeshna Mukhopadhyay, general manager, central lighting design and application, Philips, added: ?Morally, we shall certainly miss his guidance and the project will now lack the final touch of genius. But his majestic concept is already with us and the ideas have all been deployed, so we know exactly what he had in mind. What technical equipment will be needed, at what angles the lights should be, how much power would be needed, what the colour schemes would be, etc.?

It was Sen?s idea to give the bridge different kinds of lighting designs for different days, a first for any monument in India. The bridge has ?a beautiful silvery grey surface?, which will help, and Philips has brought lots of modern equipment from Europe, he had said.

?The lights on weekdays will involve the option of white lights on the pillions or illumination of the interior surface with a bright golden glow. On special days, the lighting will involve special colours,? explained Mukhopadhyay.

Howrah bridge will use lots of modern lighting equipment, including Arenavision, Nocturnes and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) which has never been used in Calcutta before.

Only, Sen will not be around on October 17 to see the bridge lit up under the open sky.