Divine Itinerancy

Divine Itinerancy is a documentary feature produced by the Lalit Kala Akademi as part of their project ‘Preservance and Digitising the Art Activities during Puja Festival in Kolkata’. The Durga Puja celebrations are amongst the grandest and most eagerly awaited social and cultural events in the Bengali calendar. This documentary made in May 2014 covers about 2,500 pujo pandals in Kolkata. The homecoming of the Devi Durga during the month of Ashvin (September-October) is marked by the appearance of the kaash phool (wild sugarcane flowers) and during this time, the worship of Devi Durga takes place for four days which culminates with the immersion of the Goddess in the river Ganga. The film documents the transformation of city spaces as seen through the eyes of the artists involved in the festival. During the course of three to four months, these artists work on perfecting their vision for the festival. This documentary looks in detail into the works executed by various artists from the mainstream, to the traditional. It also focuses on the various artistic movements that have taken place over the course of the twentieth century in service of the Durga Puja. The film ends with a look at the new pujo art movement of the twenty first century that has generated a lot of attention not only from the public but art historians and scholars as well.