Chandigarh: Tallest Ravana this year braces for laser battleground

Organisers go for laser show, with soundtrack of bursting firecrackers, over uncertainty whether the cracker ban that was in force for the past years will be lifted this year

Come Wednesday, city residents will be treated to a spectacle of the city’s tallest Ravana effigy taking centre stage at the Dussehra celebrations in Sector 46. The 90-ft tall Ravana will be accompanied by a 60-ft Kumbhkaran, while the effigy of Meghnath stands tall at 50 ft.

The 90 feet tall Ravana, the tallest one in Chandigarh this year, being set up in Sector 46 on Monday. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

Adding to the appeal of an already-promising set-up for the Dussehra evening is the organisers’ decision to put on a laser show instead of filling up the effigies with firecrackers to set it alight.

The laser show, however, came from a place of necessity more than anything else, as confusion over the ban on firecrackers led to organisers racking their brains for alternatives.

Speaking of the same, Sushil Kumar, general secretary of the Sector 46 Ramlila committee, said, “The laser show was performed once before in 2014. While the effigies will be lit, a soundtrack with sound of bursting firecrackers will be played in the background.”

The committee, for a brief period, also looked into the viability of using electric crackers for the event only to eventually decide against it.

Festive fervour has also taken over other Ramlila bodies.

“Last year, children had made small effigies given the ban, but we have gone big this year. Our Ravana is 75-ft tall,” Sanskritic Manch, Sector 29, director Jyoti Swarup Bhardwaj said.

Effigies will also be put up near the Sector 49 mandi ground for the first time, local Ramlila director Pardeep Kumar said.

The Parade Ground in Sector 17 serves as a popular Dussehra attraction for residents of the northern sectors. Parade Ground Ramlila Association general secretary Jatinder Pal Singh Lucky said the Ravana effigy to be set up at the venue will be 70 ft tall, with Kumbhkaran and Meghnath measuring up to 65 ft each.

While no effigies were burnt on Dussehra in 2020 given the Covid surge, in 2021, some groups went ahead with celebrations despite a ban on crackers.

Tejender Chauhan, who thrilled city crowds with 200-ft Ravana effigies in 2018 and 2019, had planned to set up a similar show in Mohali this year, but failed to secure necessary permissions.

Speaking about it, “It takes over six months to make these effigies and the officials said permission can only be given one month prior. And even as Covid situation wasn’t clear at the start of the year, we could not make an effigy in the tricity this year.”

Now,Chauhan, who put up a 221-feet tall Ravana at Dhanas in 2019, has settled for a 125-feet tall effigy being put up at his hometown of Barara, Haryana.