Kolkata: A dark main area with rusted and worn-off walls, which are made of tin and unpainted bamboos, welcomes people to the Durga Pujo pandal of Aarjunpur Amara Sobai Club in North Kolkata’s Baguihati area.
A visitor standing inside the pandal tells his companion, “When I came in the morning, I thought they (pujo committee) haven’t completed the pandal yet.”
Another middle-aged woman seems to be a little confused and tells her husband, “They have kept the Durga idol out of the pandal. How is that even possible?”
Probably this is exactly what ace art practitioner Bhabatosh Sutar wanted to achieve from his creation this year.
The main pandal of Aarjunpur Amara Sobai. Photo: Himadri Ghosh.
Sutar is a well-known and critically acclaimed Durga Pujo installation artist who has been instrumental in pushing the boundaries and forms of public art. He started working in the field after earning his degree from the Government College of Art and Craft in Kolkata in 2000. He has since dedicated more than two decades to creating magnificent artwork that touches the lives of millions of people.
Speaking to The Wire, Sutar said, “I have been involved with Durga Pujo art for the past 20 years. I tried to bring changes every year. Not that I was successful each time, but I kept on trying. Durga Pujo has seen a tectonic shift in the last 20 years. However, I somehow found that we are still stuck somewhere. Last year, when UNESCO declared Kolkata’s Durga Pujo as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, I thought it was time to break the structure. Rethink it, all over again.”
At Aarjunpur Amara Sobai, Sutar drastically altered the way contemporary, theme-based Durga Pujos had been conceptualised in Kolkata up until this point.
Durga idol has always been at the centre of every single Pujo pandal in Kolkata. But Sutar kept the Durga outside the pandal in a corner. The Durga in this instance is not divine; instead, she is just another daily-wage labourer.
Durga idol of Arjunpur Amra Sobai club placed outside the main arena. Photo: Himadri Ghosh.
Not only that, but the fact that Durga here makes way for the Dhakis (ordinary men who play traditional Bengali drums) entirely removes her perceived aura, sheen and divinity. Durga appears to be an ordinary woman in our society.
Probably for the first time in the history of Durga Pujo, a pandal has been built to serve as a platform for live theatre. Where more than 80 artists are performing a short drama, with light, sound, props in batches from six in the evening till the dawn breaks.
Artist Bhabatosh Sutar and his team. Photo: Social media.
Over 200 people worked alongside Sutar, toiling in the narrow lane of Arjunpur for four months to establish this massive installation spread over 15,000 square feet of land, which is split into two by a narrow 12 feet road.
Aarjunpur Amara Sobai’s puja pandal is based on the theme of Shokal (the morning), where the artist believes that every individual is responsible for their dawn and they themselves pull up the sun in their life.
This time around, Sutar has made the commoner, marginalised, and the ones ignored by our society the hero of his project. The installation makes a case for a classless and casteless society.
“Daily wage labourers or people whose daily income is anywhere between Rs 250 and Rs 500, cutting across caste and religion, don’t see much change in their life. Their daily routine is more or less fixed. Our system, our society, our hierarchy, our cultural traditions, nothing touches them or alters their life. This time I wanted to bring them to the forefront. I wanted to celebrate them,” said the 48-year-old artist.
Although modern and theme-based Durga Pujas have been held in Kolkata for some time now, Sutar felt that the ideas had reached a saturation point with the elaborate decorations and endless light displays.
“I strongly felt the urge to break the rules this year. I am longing to introduce performing art in Durga Pujo space. It’s not an easy idea, as different artists from diverse backgrounds need to perform and blend it into one form of art. So, I took this opportunity and made the most of it,” said Sutar.
Aarjunpur Amara Sobai’s pandal is an amalgamation of various art forms, especially performing arts. One can find shadow artists telling the story, musicians who arranged the music, Dhakis playing the drums, Chhau dancer (a 300-year-old Indian semi-classical dance form) and a person singing Gajir Gaan (a folk music form from Bangladesh). All of them bring secular essence to the theme.
A person blowing a traditional Bengali horn from the rooftop of a building close to the main pandal. Photo: Himadri Ghosh.
Music plays a pivotal role, as it ties all the art forms and makes them one. A famous song by Pratul Mukhopadhyay, which speaks about the pain, sorrow, and despair of the labour class was featured in this pandal.
One of the most standout features of this pandal is that during the day, there is no activity and there is nothing to see or observe in this pandal. Mind that a large section of the visitors throng around pandals from noon time. The performances only start from six in the evening and go on till dawn. Many say it is extremely courageous of the artist and the pujo committee to take such an unconventional path.
The second important feature is the various performances that happen in an order that the visitors are completely unaware of. Even performances happen in two to three different sets, so visitors are kept in the dark about where it starts and where it ends.
Sutar said, “I wanted people to be a part of this pandal. Communication has to be two ways. Unlike other pandals, there are no restrictions for visitors in terms of time spent inside the pandal. I wanted people to be part of it. Just like the road, the moving cycle or auto rickshaw is part of the whole idea.”
In Bengal and Kolkata, Durga Pujo is more of a cultural festivity than a religious celebration. Time and again cinema, songs, and theatre have established it. Since the inception of modern, theme-based pujo, art has become central to it. However, this year, Aarjunpur Amara Sobai’s pandal has raised the bar for artistic expression and dismantled every palpable idea of Durga Pujo in order to celebrate the art and the life of common people.
