birthdays for some are not just about cutting cakes for those like director srijit mukherji they go beyond just being occasions for personal celebrations on september 23 srijit decided to do something unique to mark his 42nd birthday it was about trying out something he had never done on any birthday before after the customary cakecutting ceremony the idea was to go on a tour of the netaji statues in the city along with his gumnaami hero prosenjit chatterjeehistory has always been a favourite subject for srijit ask him why he chose to go on such a tour and he says going across the city rekindles many memories from my childhood so i thought it will be a good way to spend the birthday and who else to determine the trail but the true liberator of my nation our eternal hero netaji subhas chandra bosethe first stop was netaji nagar a bustling residential area for srijit the name of the locality holds as much of a significance as the statue for the local residents the presence of prosenjit and srijit on a monday morning came as a pleasant surprise this halfbust statue is located at one of the busiest intersections of the city this statue is the closest to my residence i think it is unique that an entire locality is named after netaji the director saidthe next stop for the duo was netaji bhawan on elgin road accompanying them on this tour was gm kapur the governing council member and convenor of the west bengal chapter of indian national trust for art and cultural heritage intach netaji used to live in this house it is from here that he had escaped from house arrest in 1941 and made his great escape the wanderer car in which he went from kolkata to gomoh is still there a lot of his possessions are still here this is a hallowed portal of anything concerning netaji gm kapur said while sipping a cup of tea in between the conversation srijit added that this particular statue is significant for sentimental reasonsmaidanthe drive from elgin road to maidan was quick the morning walkers had left by then and the lovebirds who regularly come to the victorial memorial and the adjoining areas of maidan hadnt yet arrived that gave prosenjit a breather to stand for a while and discuss the historical importance of the statue incidentally this pose of the netaji statue has often been discussed in the public domain according to gm kapur this statue was unveiled in the early 70s or late 60s the famous dilli chalo pose been very nicely sculpted however there has been a bit of a controversy regarding this pose since both the right leg and arm are outstretched people say that both the right arm and the leg cant be outstretched when someone is marching but apart from that this is a very inspiring statuefor srijit the dilli chalo call is inspirational netaji had expected everyone