its the biggest blockbuster of the season playing out at a pandal near you and tollys master craftsmen are using flashy lights elaborate sets and great music to turn durga puja into a band baaja baaraat extravaganza filmistyle are 10 hands at play you could call it the mother of all star casts a happy family a bunch of riotous kids a formidable mother a father known for his temper and a mustachioed muscly southstyle villain very ott very fillum could even karan johar ask for more so when durga and her kids come to town for their fourday sojourn with all the band baaja baarat revelry its time for tollywood to swing into action more and more industrywallahs are helping to roll out the red carpet to durga and her children girlnextdoor lakshmi diligent saraswati boisterous ganesh and rockstar kartik and thanks to their expertise in terms of lights sounds music and action the pujas have never been bigger in terms of filmi involvementwhat an idea sirji when it comes to theme pujas no one does it better than tollywood take susanta paul for example hes been working with rituparno ghosh ever since bariwali making costumes for the filmmakers khela chokher bali raincoat antarmahal and designing sets for him in the last lear abohoman chitrangada the crowning wish and even his tagore documentary susanta plunged into puja ideation in 1998 i started off with pandal design for behala sahajatri which is now barisha club later i took charge of all departments from lights idol theme down to the minutest of details he says last year susanta ideated the theme for sanghashree club kidderpore pally saradiya and ballygunge 21 pally this year he is busy racking his brains for mudiali club kidderpore pally saradiya and netaji jatiyo dal the mudiali club pandal stands out with its fibre and textile work kidderpore pally saradia on the other hand has tribhuvaneswari as its theme which means durga is omnipresent in swarga martya and patal susanta who feeds on films cant do without his pujas either every puja committee is looking at winning an award thats where the need to rope in professionals has come in while the subject in films vary here its one durga but working for pujas is more challenging as the feedback is instant today pujas are no less than a work of artget set go gautam bose a professional set designer in tollywood was forced by friends to put his skills to good use in pujas he started off with hindustan park in 1992 and continued there for six years now gautam designs the pandal for ballygunge cultural talking about his latest task of recreating rajasthan on a kolkata road he says we are trying to capture rajasthan in all its glory apart from a vibrant and colourful ambiance there will be live musicians dancers and even puppetry so is there a difference between designing sets for films and for pujas there