In the name of the Devi

Celebrating Durga Pujas on-screen has been a fascination with many directors. Be it Satyajit Ray���������s ���������Pather Panchali��������� that had a scene after Durga���������s demise when her father returns home with a new sari for her to wear during the Pujas to Rituparno Ghosh���������s ���������Antarmahal��������� that had Abhishek Bachchan using the idol to depict the sensuality of the female form, from Aparna Sen���������s ���������Paroma��������� where the story revolved around a photographer coming down to shoot in a family that was celebrating Durga Pujas to Rituparno Ghosh���������s ���������Hirer Angti��������� about a missing ring in a household celebrating the Pujas, from Sanjay Leela Bhansali���������s ���������Devdas��������� where Paro visits Chandramukhi���������s house for a handful of mitti to Ravi Kinnagi���������s ���������Dhaker taale��������� song from ���������Poran Jay Joliya Re��������� ��������� celluloid has often used Pujas to explore various theme.Ranchi Times gets celebs talking about their most endearing on-screen Puja moment.
Sujoy Ghosh
Director
I love the way Satyajit Ray had used the backdrop of Durga Pujas in ���������Joi Baba Felunath���������. It was in this film where the idol of the lion had the missing Ganesha tucked inside its mouth. That revealed the clue to the Feluda mystery as well. This scene has been my favourite scene because it was here that I first learnt that the eyes of the goddess are drawn last and are hidden while being drawn.
In my forthcoming film, ���������Kahaani���������, which releases on January 20, Vidya Balan arrives in Kolkata during Pujas. That���������s why my movie has plenty of scope to celebrate the Pujas on-screen. So, I will have the audience get a feel of the celebration of Durga Pujas in contemporary Kolkata. In this movie, I have used bits and pieces of every ritual associated with the Durga Pujas. That would include rituals from Mahalaya to the immersion of the goddess.
Shantanu Moitra
Composer
My most endearing Durga Puja scene was from Pradeep Sarkar���������s ���������Parineeta��������� that showed Sanjay Dutt doing a dhunuchi naach. The beautifully shot scene is pivotal for the movie and has a strong subtext in the context of modern-day film-making. I remember the moment when a burning ember accidentally falls on the floor only to be picked up by Vidya. Saif Ali Khan, who was once the main sponsor of the Puja, goes back in time when a similar thing had happened while he was doing the dhunuchi naach. Durga Puja pandals is the ultimate place for courtship and Pradeep has used that so well in the film. This act of picking up the burning embers can be seen as a very simple act of a volunteer at a Puja pandal trying to be careful. But it can also be a means of showing how caring the girl is. When Saif watched Vidya do the same thing to Sanjay, he understood that something was brewing between the two. I remember telling Pradeep that it was a good idea that he has kept a girl volunteer (Vidya) in that scene in ���������Parineeta��������� so that he could use the dhunuchi naach as a metaphor to show shades in relationships.
Rituparna Sengupta
Actor
���������Utsab��������� remains one of my favourite movies that had the Pujas as the backdrop. In the film, my character was drifting apart from her husband during the Pujas. There was this one particular scene where I had to apply vermillion during sindoor khela. Since my character was drifting away from her husband, the significance of the sindoor was also fading. Yet, there was a tussle in her and she was still trying to hold on to her Indian values like any other Indian bride. The backdrop of the Pujas was used to showcase decaying relationships. Even the whole symbolism of Ma Durga coming to her mother���������s place and then having to return to her in-law���������s house are symbolically treated in the context of my character coming to her mother���������s house and then having to return to her in-law���������s place.
Babul Supriyo
Singer
I remember two different movies that used the Pujas effectively. One was from the Amitabh Bachchan and Rakhee-starrer ���������Anusandhan��������� that had the famous Puja song ��������� ���������Bolo horibol horibol bolo horibol���������. Rakhee, who was visually impaired, still managed to show understand that the villanous Amjad Khan���������s game was up and good had triumped over evil! The other significant scene was from Ray���������s ���������Nayak��������� which had a scene of how a man who inspired Uttam Kumar���������s character died while lifting the idol of the goddess. The fact that a person died during the Pujas left a very strong impact on Uttam Kumar���������s character so much so it changed the course of his life.