Durga Puja is round the corner, and this year, Puja organizers of Delhi-NCR are trying their best to arrange for entertainment for the attendees with a new variety of cultural shows and upcoming talents from Kolkata. At every Durga Puja, the main attraction has always been the cultural shows, which seem to have lost their charm in the past few years, with not too many well-known artistes, be it from Bollywood or Tollywood, having performed at the pandals in the city.
Promoting upcoming talents this year
Chirodeep Chakraborty, cultural secretary, K Block, CR Park Durga Puja Committee, admits, "Yes there has been a drastic change in the cultural shows at pandals in the city. Earlier, there was a dearth of fresh talent, and so we would only invite Bollywood artistes to perform at the Pujas. Now, with so many reality shows, newcomers are getting the opportunity to showcase their talents before the audience through private shows and cultural performances. So, the demand is more for upcoming artistes who will be seen performing this year at various pandals in the city."
So does that mean Delhi's Puja organizers lack the funds and sponsorship for popular artistes?
Chirodeep stresses, "Of course, funds have always been a major issue. The Puja goes on for five days and incurs a huge cost, we need to manage the funds and spend in a sensible manner. For instance, if we intend to invite a Bollywood artiste to perform, it would roughly cost us Rs 12 to Rs 15 lakhs. We'll also need to provide him with a business class flight ticket and five-star hotel accommodation, and if he is travelling with his own band, then we also need to provide them with the same facility. At the end of the day, it turns out to be too expensive a package. Instead, we felt that it was high time that we need to promote our new upcoming talents and give them the platform to perform during the puja. But doing this it gives us two benefits, one that the price of a new artist who is not that well known cost you between Rs 25000 to Rs 50,000 whereas a Bollywood artist rates start from Rs8 lakhs to Rs 15 lakhs. Secondly, it is easy to control the crowd at the venue while a new artist is performing as compared to a Bollywood artist where we need to hire bouncers and also take extra security and safety measure. In the past we have experienced several incidents like stone pelting, crowd breaking the barricade and so on whenever a renowned Bollywood artist would perform at the pandal. Hence keeping all this in mind we would prefer to have a safe puja."
It's difficult to decide whom to invite and whom to not
Subir Dutta, general secretary, CR Park K Block adds, "In older days, the functions that would be organized at the puja pandal would include mostly the local artist. It has only become a trend since past few years that we have been roping in Bollywood singers and celebrities from Tollywood to perform at Durga puja Pandals. Nowadays even a well known Tollywood singer and artist from Kolkata have become costly. Well known Kolkata artist like Usha Uthup, Nachiketa, Lopamudra are charging very high and most of them will be busy performing either in Kolkata, Mumbai or abroad. It has become really difficult to choose whom to invite and whom to not. This year, we have decided to invite Sanjay Mandal, reality TV show singers Doel Goswami, Madhumita and a local Delhi band and Dance group to perform at the pandal."
Time restriction has left us with no choice but to go for low budget artist
Debashish Saha, chairman, organizing committee, Safdarjung Enclave Durga Puja Samiti, shares, " No Bollywood artists or well known Kolkata singers will be performing during the puja this year. The pandals are more focusing on local artist performance due to time restriction. Getting a Bollywood artists to perform during puja has become very costly. Now even a Kolkata artist charges nothing less than 2 lakhs for just one and half hours performance. It is sheer waste of money to get highly priced artist to perform only for one an half hour. At the end of the day there is no value for money."
Celebrity artist booked for shows abroad
Malay Dutta, promoter and owner of a well known artist management company from Kolkata tells us, " Sadly, it has been over two to three years that Delhi puja has gone down in terms of organizing cultural shows. Reason, the Delhi pandal organizer are lacking funds and sponsorship due to which they are not able to invite renowned artist to perform during puja. On the other hand, there has been a sudden demand of Bollywood singers and Tollywood singers to perform during Puja time abroad for which many artists have already been booked in advance to do shows in places like US and UK. People staying in abroad who are organizing Durga puja have no hesitation to pay even 10 to 15 lakhs to a well known artist so why wouldn't the artist go abroad and perform there. In Delhi this year the artist who will perform are not that well known except two well known singers from Kolkata like Rupankar Bagchi and Srikanto Acharya who will be performing at Dwarka, Aram Bagh, Noida and Gurgaon till Navami and later would leave for US on Navami night after their shows. Earlier, the Sushant Lokh pandal in Gurgaon were known to bring in well known Bollywood artist to perform however this year they haven't shown much interest."
Why would someone waste huge money inviting well known artist
"It is a fact that many of the Durga puja committees who organize cultural shows have very limited budget and they have to be managed accordingly. So why would someone waste inviting a well known Bollywood artist and pay him Rs 12lakhs to perform only for one an half hour whereas you can get a at least three to four Kolkata artist to perform in a limited budget," adds Retd Lt Gen M K Ghosh, organizer of Durga Puja Samiti at Palam Vihar in Gurgaon.
Focus on performance by local residents at cultural shows
Sumit Chakraborty, pandal and murti secretary, Durga samiti at sector 25 Noida reveals, " We have been tired of watching the performances of professional artists from Bollywood and Kolkata during the puja who have visited our pandal in the past few years. It was high time to bring in a new change and add some fun element to the cultural segment that will hosted during the five days of Puja this year. Finally, we decided that we shall not invite any artists from bollywood and Tollywood and would rather focus on showcasing the performances by our local residents who stay in the area. We want that the local residents who have been part of the Durga puja for last 22 years should be given the chance and opportunity to also perform at the cultural event. The new idea has been well accepted by all. The participants will include the baudis(Bhabhis) and children of the society who will perform skits, dance and singing during the puja. It will be really interesting watch a new bunch of talented artist perform during the puja."
Tradition with western fusion
Ace dance choreographer Shohini Dutta, founder and director of friends of art says, " This is the first time that our dance troupe have been invited to perform at the Durga puja pandal in C R Park. It is very rare that you get to see local artists perform at cultural shows that are being organized during puja in the city. Most of the puja committee organizers have realized that people have got bored listening to the same artists who perform every year, therefore this year many have decided not to rope in unknown names and give an opportunity to young upcoming local artist to perform during the puja. This will not only make the organizer save on money but also it will be a different experience for all attendees at the puja to watch the new artists perform on the stage for the first time."
Shifting of Puja pandal venues due to upcoming assembly elections in Gurgaon and funds from corporate have been holding back
Somnath Mitra, Joint Secretary of DLF City Durga puja and Bengali Cultural society tells us, "Due to upcoming assembly election we have shifted the venue from DLF phase 1 community city to DLF phase 3 community centre. We had the apprehension that we would face some problem due to the election time hence we decided in advance that we would shift the venue for the Durga Puja this year so that we have no problems at the last moment. The DLF phase 1 community centre has to get blocked 15 days ahead of the upcoming assembly election from October 1. Also this year we shall be facing a major footfall regarding crowd attendance due to lot of public holidays that are coming in during the Durga puja dates. Many corporate have already planned to travel out of station and will not be there during the puja which has led to low response in regards to fund and sponsorships. We have decided to keep our cultural events every basic and focus on local Kolkata artist, local rock bands and performances by the members of the society. Funds from the corporate have also been holding back due to which we have not got enough budgets to invite any celebrity artists. Also our expensive have shot up whether be decoration or catering. Keeping all this in mind we in collaboration with the RWAs have decided to keep a simple puja this year."
Cultural shows more focused on traditional and authentic Bengali culture
Kaushik Chaki, President, Durga Puja Committee Kendriya Vihar Durgotsav Samity at Sector -56 Gurgaon tells us, "This is our 11 year of celebration and we have been greeting a variety of artists to perform at the pandal every year. However this year, we have restricted to only inviting few local artists from Kolkata as we have been getting a mixed reaction from the attendees who have been coming to our puja. We wanted this year's cultural events to be focused more on traditional and culture of Bengal. Interestingly, this year we shall be having the family members of Sector 56 who will perform the Agomani dance on the opening day of the puja. It will be refreshing to see our local residents perform on the stage for the first time. With no celebrity artist performing we are surely expecting a footfall but that hardly makes a difference."
Local artist won't attract the local audience hence will see a major footfall
N K Chakraborty, Sound and light secretary, Durga Puja Samiti at South City II, Gurgaon says, "We are inviting a lot of local Kolkata artist to perform at the puja this year and our major attraction would be well known Bengali artist Rupankar who will be performing on the Navami day. We are sure that the majority of the non Bengali audience who has been coming to our puja pandal to watch the cultural events on a regular basis every year will however not show up this year as they would not take much interest in watching a bengali artist perform on the stage. But that hardly makes a difference to us. Also this year we have a huge crunch of funds and sponsorships due to which we couldn't manage to get a celebrity artist."
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