Soon, Victorial Memorial visitors to witness new light and sound show

Kolkata: Victoria Memorial is making a complete overhaul of its son et lumiere, which is expected to kick off during winters, the time when there is a huge footfall of both national and international tourists at the Memorial.

"The analogue show format will be passe and there will be a sea change with the 3D projection mapping system. The Memorial's marble edifice will serve as the virtual screen to narrate Kolkata's story - a journey that will encapsulate nearly four centuries, beginning from Job Charnock's arrival in Calcutta to contemporary Kolkata. The characters will seemingly speak on their own, narrating the 300 years history of Kolkata," curator of VM, Jayanta Sengupta said.

There will be no commentary as it has been in the traditional light and sound show.

The light and sound show at VM had started way back in the year 1991 and was held on a screen on the eastern lawn of Victoria Memorial Hall for over two decades. The script was by writer Sunil Gangopadhyay, the narration was provided by Soumitra Chatterjee in Bengali and Dhritiman Chattopadhyay in

English.

There will be no such narration in the present format and some noted historians associated with the research on old Kolkata will pen down the

screenplay.

There will also be the inclusion of Hindi language in the new format and the duration of the show will be slightly less than the old show that was stalled for more than a year. Earlier, the show was of 40 minutes. The present one will be between 30 to 35 minutes.

"There is an average footfall of 36 lakh visitors a year at the VM and many of them coming from other Indian states could not properly understand Bengali and English. So, we have decided to introduce Hindi," a senior official said.

The VM has plans to have more seating arrangement for the spectators in this new format.

It may be mentioned that the VM authorities since last week has increased the timing of the Memorial by an hour. It is now open till 6 pm and is probably the only museum under the aegis of Ministry of Culture that is open beyond 5 pm.