Century of cinema scores as Puja theme in capital

Durga Puja organisers in the city had last year taken up the topical theme of 100 years of Delhi and celebrated it with pomp and fervour along with the arrival of the Mother Goddess.

Durga Puja organisers in the city had last year taken up the topical theme of 100 years of Delhi and celebrated it with pomp and fervour along with the arrival of the Mother Goddess. This year, however, a Puja committee is highlighting something close to the hearts of most Indians - the century of cinema in the country.

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According to the organisers of the 30-year-old Vasundhara Enclave Puja Samiti, the decision to showcase 100 years of Indian cinema was spontaneous. The planning that followed, however, was meticulous. "We have a committee meeting two months before the Puja to decide the various aspects of the year's festivities. This year we had two options - Vivekananda or 100 years of Indian cinema," Arup Brahma, one of the organisers, said.

"Since the decision, it has been a busy schedule. We had to keep an eye on every aspect of the pandal and the mandap," Brahma added.

Artists from Midnapore in West Bengal worked on the pandal modelled on Kolkata's Star Theatre, one of the oldest in the country. Star Theatre was also the venue of the screening of the first motion pictures by Hiralal Sen. "We took care to make sure that the pandal was architecturally brilliant so that people who were not aware of the heritage of the building are awed by its nuances," the organiser said.

A poster of the first Indian feature film, Raja Harishchandra, along with 15 others from various decades have found places of pride in the pandal.