Audience

The premise was interesting, very interesting. A bank-heist caper set in the small towns and urban villages of Bengal in the mould of a genius criminal vs dogged cop drama. The output was fantastic too. Tense camerawork, authentic acting and locale worthy music brought together the story with impact and verve. "Bohurupi", a movie which I watched yesterday without even seeing its trailer or reviews delivered entertainment in spades for Baba and me. Not exactly a Childrens' Day movie though we watched it on the day, it pushed a message that becomes all the more clearer as you grow older, that for capable and sincere 'professionals' pushed into corners by unfair circumstances, the 'moral' choice is not default. Baba's end of movie statement that "Bangla cinema kothai pouchey geyeche... baaki der theke ONEK oporre [Look where Bengali cinema has reached... the others will never be able to catch up]" was the typical unwarranted over-the-top declaration without which Bengaliness remains uncertified. Nonetheless, I would recommend watching it. Worth your time.

But the reason I write this post is that all through the movie, I couldn't stop thinking about what would people on whom the movie is based feel about the same? The memorably portrayed independent pick-pocketeer Jhimli with a sharp tongue and seductive eyes. Would she feel represented through the movie or would she think that 'her' character was a simplified novelty meant for city viewers? The small town 'chor' [thief] guru Salim who is a master at his craft but only in the small world that he inhabits - he is no suave Danny Ocean whom international audiences (claim to) admire and (aspire to) relate to, chor or not. Would he judge the directors Shiboprasad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy for projecting expertise on themes they don't have it on? The bohurupis [quick-change folk artists who travel in troupes performing in town and village squares which are usually off the 'in' circuit] themselves, skilled in 'overacting' and melodrama of the kind that sells to a less urbane and therefore less cynical audience. Would they feel proud that audiences in Kolkata, and possibly the globe, would now know of them or are they also well aware that their caricaturish passionate performances which form the baseline of the film will not make its urban audience actually attend in person their rapidly fading world of street performances to support or to save it? But then again, through the centuries they have been master shape shifters/spies/survivors and for them success is not dependent on such fickle support driven by Netflix trends and corporate YOLO mantras. For them, a new story arc and a new beginning is one snappy costume change away.

[https://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.com/2024/11/audience.html]

A house on Ripon Street

No, it’s not even on Ripon Street. Ripon Street actually ends at Lower Circular Road but in the long standing tradition of locating themselves on the nearest modish sounding address, the occupants of the house often do the same. Haji Lane just doesn’t have the same ring.

The house is old. Some say that the ground floor base of the house is 150 years old and was the studio of noted painter Abanindranath Tagore. Like that of the blue-eyed Englishwoman said to have been seen by some domestic servants, this story about the house is yet to be confirmed.

For a functionally focussed house, so much so that it wasn’t given a name, it has its fair share of stories. The tall cool walls and their wooden shuttered windows, watched over by the brilliant red in spring krishnachura tree, have enclosed within them many a memory – newly married couples tentatively learning the ropes of matrimony; happy childhoods by the dozen as experience and an experienced pool of grandparents allowed them to be; and re-unions of re-animated cousins as they talk of them days past whilst the latest generations make latest memories.

A first-time visitor might note the long first floor verandah, once open to the streets and neighbourhood burglars but now protected by a grill of elaborate design, where the sunlight casts all manner of patterns through the day and where it is possible to daydream looking out onto the ultra-busy street, with a distance more emotional than physical.

Then there’s the roof, that is open to the breezes from the Ganga and the azaan calls of numerous mosques. With whimsical views both distant and near, there is never quite a wrong time to go up to the third floor in search of innumerable imaginary stories.

[http://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.in/2017/10/a-house-on-ripon-street.html]

Pujo Pondogol [Part 4 of 4] - The North

The North is Kolkata and Kolkata is the North. Many a 'true' Kolkatan who claims allegiance to any other part of the city is, at this point of time, already up in arms. Yet it must be repeated. The North is Kolkata and Kolkata is the North. 

Yes, I know of the most cliched images of Kolkata - the tram rumbling across the vast expanse of the green Maidan, the looming iron skeleton of the Howrah bridge and the helicopter shot of the Victoria Memorial - do not involve any scene or image from north Kolkata. But to get a distinctive feel, to really understand why this city is so different, you have to head into the lanes of North Kolkata.

Let's begin with the Nalin Sarkar Street Pandal. At any other time of the year, the street is typical old Kolkata, with narrow streets and looming leaning houses around. The same narrowness transformed into a throbbing red audio visual experiment for the Durga Puja. I had no clue as to what the theme was for the year's pandal but all I can say is whatever the theory may be, the execution was awesome.

A long tunnel of an entry and the sound of tribal drums reverberating through the smoky air made for a fantastic and moody pandal like no other. Frankly, this was, due to reasons not even very clear to me, my favourite pandal of the year. The aquarium pandal at Salt Lake ran it close but this won "Random Bengali Guy's (namely mine) Favourite Pandal 2015".

Mera No.1... Music CDs of course!

Next are a couple of pictures of a rather gaudily coloured pandal of the Chaltabagan Puja Committee. I guess it was something which was better appreciated at night when the Amitabh Bachchan in Yaarana look (2:26 onwards some trend setting fashion) really lit up the dark in psychedelic colours.

The idols though were unique and sober in white. Made me wonder why the rest of it couldn't be?

Time then to talk about another special pandal. Special because when you make idols for almost all the major pujas of Kolkata and for the Bengali diaspora around the world, the question arises: What do you about your neighbourhood pandal?

Say hello to Kumartuli, the area of town where centuries of specialization in making clay idols has permanent residence. Any time of the year, little sheds in these claustrophobic lanes and bylanes of this city neighbourhood can be found building idols for the next festival on the Hindu religious calendar with a few Grecian maidens and elephants thrown in the mix.

Highly influenced by the Addams Family cartoons apparently. these expert idol makers went along with a magnificent mansion with darker secrets theme.  The relevance of the theme to Durga Puja may be subject to debate but a sincere amount of dedication was put into making the thing look real.

Here for the sake of full disclosure, I must confess that I am easily fooled. A number of my friends who have played practical jokes on me can confirm that. When I first saw the "house", I was totally taken in by this newly refurbished old house. It looks so beautiful now, I was about to tell my parents. 

Giant hands saved me giant embarrassment

I then noticed the giant hands sticking out from underneath the verandah. Ohhh... so this is the Kumartuli pandal then I realized much to my embarassment.

Another noticeable difference in some of the older pandals of North Kolkata is that they do not have the traditional lion as Durga's mount. They seem to have some fierce biting horse creature. Must be a pretty bad-ass horse to be able to sub for the king of the jungle. Apparently, in the original Bengali tradition it was always a horse for Durga, not the lion of Sheraa Maataa.

Sometimes, it's just a random pandal ignored by the crowds that seems to serve up a dollop of difference. This particular one, somewhere on the by-lanes of the North had an interesting compact idol. What it did not have in scale, it made up in the idols' finely chiseled features.

On then to the Baghbazar Puja pandal, a traditional stopover on every north Kolkata pandal hopper's circuit. It helps that Baghbazar is one of the oldest continuously running pandals around, but the crowds are there for a more specific reason.

Yes, the pandal is quite nice too but...

The real reason everyone mobs it is the huge amount of space allotted by the organizers to all manner of food stalls. The organizers have focussed on one thing that pleases the masses. Bengal may be a special case where there are more food worshippers than God worshippers.

OK OK, it's nice... anyone hungry?

In all fairness though, the massive idols and the superhuman calm on Durga's face in the midst of all the mortal confusion around her makes the pandal worth the visit. Every year it's the exact same idol though the pandal look may change. That is one key tradition that they have kept unchanged.

We move then to the Kumartuly Park Puja, which shares its name with the aforementioned clay sculptors' neighbourhood but has little connection beyond that.

It began with an earthquake in progress above with modern houses bearing the brunt. There were some Indian Army soldiers depicted in rescue operations for the same.

Then there was a giant demon representative of Mahisasura, Durga's favourite person to vanquish, guarding a walk in tunnel.

"Durga? Not again!"

Also some abandoned old temples.

Plus a very intricately carved home for the goddess and her family.

The above housed a distinctively beautiful and notably different black Durga with family. 

And all of this - within one pandal. If there was a theme, it must have been a very vast theme. It did allow for a huge variety of creative endeavours but it ended up as a case study for trying to keep too many people happy.

The next pandal is that of Ahiritola. They had a subdued palette of colours for a change but it only made the handcrafted nature of their beautiful pandal and idol stand out even more.

Did look like a wedding cake from the outside though :P

Pictures of another north Kolkata pandal follow where subtlety was preferred to in-your-face-ness. The idols were half hidden in mist and sound & the colours were muted but the impact and atmosphere definitely wasn't.

Just to give you an idea of how an off peak hour of pandal hopping looks like. I went at a time of the least popularity, in the middle of the afternoon.

Off peak hours? Yes. Pandal hopping is POPULAR.

Another limited palette pandal was this one themed on Cambodian temple ruins.

Despite the huge number of visitors, the organizers ensured that at a time no more than 4-5 people entered the main area of the pandal.

On stepping inside, it became clear why. The damp of the air, the jungle soundtrack playing and the mud coloured goddess with her brood - this pandal had put some serious effort into recreating the atmosphere of a temple forgotten by time. The limited palette of colours again worked their magic.

Limited palette of colours would be an incorrect description of the next two pandals of north Kolkata. If anything, they represented the opposite end of the spectrum. They also proved that colour ain't bad either.

Unlimited Palette of Colours - Exhibit 1

Unlimited Palette of Colours - Exhibit 2

So here we are, on the very last pandal of the very last post of the Pujo Pondogol series. I thought it would be appropriate to end the series with an example of the insane amounts of preparation (and I mean INSANE) amounts of preparation that goes into building up a Puja pandal, which is scheduled to exist for 5-6 days at most.

Below is the pandal of the Hatibagan Puja committee, another one of the longstanding popular ones on the North Kolkata puja circuit.

Someone or a group of someones went through an absolutely incredible amount of repetitive effort for this.

No. No one can love arts and crafts that much. I am betting that a few hundred fingers fell off by the time they were done folding.

Gold's "Finger" Gym

Every year I swear, swear that this is the last year I am going Durga Puja pandal hopping. There's too much of a crowd, there's the horrible weather, there's the walking for miles together - how many times before you get bored of it? No. Not this year. I am staying in.

Then Durga Puja comes around. Then I think, OK, if I just select 3-4 'main' Pujas at really odd hours, I might get a taste of the season. Then I set out walking. Then I am amazed at this small pandal, then I am blown away by that little artwork, then I am doing the entire circuit all over again. Before I know it, I am back doing the Puja Pondogol.

[These pictures are from the Durga Puja pandals, temporary structures of magnificent complexity, of 2015.

Parts 1, 2 and 3 can be found here.]

[http://virtual-inksanity.blogspot.in/2017/08/pujo-pondogol-part-4-of-4-north.html]