Gone are the days when Ranchi’s Durga Puja (DP) pandals were all about the outlook. Adapting the latest modes of artwork, DP organizers have introduced the concept of ‘interior decoration’ within their pandals and are giving special attention to this artistic representation.
The concept depicting a different human cum eco-friendly theme every year is religiously maintained by most of the old DP committees wherein one can easily find huge crowd particularly because of this ‘interior decoration’. West Bengal artists designing these themes in such pandals say the concept generation is a brain storming effort. “We request a fine-art artist to sketch our imaginations including both outside and inside view of a DP pandal. This happens around the month of January every year. Based on these architectural drawings, different puja committees of Jharkhand, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Bihar invite us,” Arun Das, an artist of Hooghly preparing the ‘Developed Indian Village’ theme at Old Commissioner Compound (OCC) said.
Adding further on this creativity, he quoted, “We carry the required material to the contracted region. Compared to a simple pandal design, the theme based pandal set up is expensive and time taking. It takes around two-three months for a perfect layout whereas a simple pandal is done within 40-45 days. 10 years back, apart from West Bengal the concept was not much accepted by residents of Jharkhand.”
In Ranchi, the trend was started by the end of 20th century with OCC Club’s Durga Puja preparation followed by Satya Amar lok, RR Sporting Club, Bharatiya Yuvak Sangh, Ranchi Railway Station and Hinoo DP Committees. The modern-culture in the recent years has been adopted by several other DP organizers in Main Road, Kantatoli, Hatia, Mecon, Dhurwa and New Bandgaon as well. “In 1998 our members decided to focus children’s attention so that they visit our pandal more than once. Those days, Internet was not accessible to all. Due to this reason, we ourselves designed pandals on Mahabharata and then on themes like Jurassic Park, Mowgli, Old Shivmandir stressing more on the inside view by imitating images made in books till 2005. Thereafter, we approached Bengal’s artisans for this purpose,” said OCC DP samiti’s secretary Ashish Chakraborty.
DP organizers at Harmu, popularly known as Satya Amar lok DP samiti feel the ‘interior decoration’ idea an easy medium to win the hearts of common people. The samiti’s Vice President Pradeep Rajgadia exclaimed, “Just eight years back, artists suggested us to apply this ‘creativity of Pandal’s inside view. Without giving a second thought we accepted it and there on our pandal is a hit in this festive season.”
Every uniqueness has some do’s and don’ts, so is the condition of this thematic DP pandals. Artisans use materials like thermacol, bamboo, jute, mud, glass, wood and spray paints which can absorb the harshness of Mother Nature. RR Sporting club’s DP Pandal at Ratu road is also a clear reflection of this culture. Here, artists from Asansol attract people with the epic drawings inside the pandal for past few years. At Kantatoli, Doranda and Hinoo DP Pandals, one can find the glossy lights including chandelier and lED in the pandals contributing added beautification to the idols and its surrounding.