Kolkata: A group of international delegates including scholars and film makers of international repute will pay a visit to the city of joy for exploring Durga Puja and participating in 'Sensitizing Cultural Tourism' — a campaign started and promoted by a Kolkata-based tourism entrepreneur on the global platform.
The event got an impetus after an internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker with National Geography, Leandro Blanco made and later unveiled a documentary on Durga Puja in Madrid last year.
The main purpose behind the programme is to promote Durga Puja on a global platform as the biggest social cultural event of the world much like Rio Carnival.
The documentary of 10 minutes and 34 seconds duration edited by Blanco has been watched by over 2.5 billion people across the globe.
The documentary will also be screened in countries like Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina this year as an attempt to take the World's biggest festival of art and culture in the global arena, attracting more
tourists from abroad.
The idea of taking Bengal's biggest festival to a whole new global level was conceptualized by Jaydeep Mukherjee of Meghdutam Travels that has its presence in various countries.
"We started our journey eight years ago to promote Durga Puja in the global arena. We had faced many hurdles and finally succeeded through our constant efforts of organising road shows and others abroad. We are on the mission of sensitising cultural tourism with the pilot project on Durga Puja," Mukherjee said.
It is a festival where the entire city of Kolkata and its adjoining areas transform into World's biggest open art gallery and a model of secularism. Filmmakers, scholars, writers and journalists from countries like US, Canada, Spain and others will spend the puja days here in Kolkata, experiencing the fervor and sentiments of common people, Mukherjee maintained.
"Spanish star Pepe Navarro and former Brazilian soccer icon Roberto Carlos have also expressed their desire to visit Kolkata to witness the festival after the documentary earned a global recognition," Mukherjee said.
Gustavo Zerbino, the world famous personality who survived the Andes Plane Crash in 1972 and on whom the movie "ALIVE" was made, had visited and explored Durga Puja of Kolkata last year and has been supporting the tourism sensitisation drive in South American countries where he is a famous personality, said Mukherjee.
It may be mentioned here that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken Durga Puja to a new height.
The state government has given Bengal's biggest event a shape of an International carnival.