Durga Puja themes celebrate Ghatak’s ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’ & 50 yrs of ‘Sholay’

Kolkata: The birth centenary of filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, through his iconic film ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’, and the 50 years of Ramesh Sippy’s Bollywood blockbuster Sholay are being celebrated this Durga Puja by two community clubs — one in southwest Kolkata and another in the north.

At Behala Adarshapally on Roy Bahadur Road, the Puja theme highlights the character of Nita, played by Supriya Devi (Choudhury) in Meghe Dhaka Tara.

Forced to sacrifice her dreams to support her family after Partition, Nita became a symbol of the resilience of displaced Bengalis, popularly known as refugees. The face of the Durga idol, crafted by Mintu Pal, bears a resemblance to Supriya Devi.

“The sufferings due to Partition cannot be ignored in the backdrop of present turmoil in Sudan, Syria, or Ukraine. The past and the present will mingle through our theme,” said an organiser. Artists Avik Sen and Shuvam Banerjee have designed the pandal using oil paintings on tin walls to depict refugee families fleeing on overcrowded trains, while another wall features thrones made of scissors, symbolising rulers drawing arbitrary borders.

Supriya Devi’s daughter Soma and grandson Saun recently visited the pandal and expressed their happiness and gratitude to the organisers.

In north Kolkata, Simla Sporting Club has chosen to mark “A Tribute to Sholay” as the film completes 50 years.

Theme designer Satyaki Sur has used flexes, paper cuttings, old posters, cinema tickets, cutouts and photographs of the film’s cast — including Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Amjad Khan, Hema Malini, and Sanjeev Kumar — to decorate the pandal. Visitors will also get to see rare behind-the-scenes images from the film’s shooting floor.

“Our idol, also being crafted by Mintu Pal, will be seated in a tonga (horse carriage) — a reminder of Basanti, the tonga driver played by Hema Malini,” said Prasad Banerjee, general secretary of the Puja.