Jyanto Durga (2010)

Jyanto Durga (Durga Live) - Making of the Goddess - a different experience. Bengal, Bengalis and the environment surrounding it gets engulfed in a carnival for 5 days sometimes around end September to mid October. The life and soul of the population gets engaged in it in some form or other through participation in organizing the festival, through business activities and even through social and cultural activities. The activities and the intensity differ from the various segments of the society. There are people who put in all their efforts and resources to lay down their merchandise in front of their customers. These include the street dwellers, the garment sellers, the designers and boutique. The husband-wife, the young lovers, the youth, the old, almost every one appears on the streets of Kolkata, to experience the feeling, to be a part of the biggest carnival of Durgautsav. Goddess Durga brings hope and prosperity. Goddess Durga demands commitment. A stroll down Kumartuli, the primary place for manufacture of the idols is all you need to experience the focus and determination in the eyes of the idol makers. Making of the idol involves delicate hands, to pile on the processed mud in different layers and create the structure. Final panting happens in different stages to bring out the finished product as a work of art. Jyanto Durga (Durga Live) is the live experience of another group whose participation in this carnival involves their mind, body and soul. These performing artists live in remote villages. They are dependent on Durga Puja to make their two ends meet. Jyanto Durga (Durga Live) unveils - their journey in its truest form - straight from their mouth - unscripted & untutored. It shows in natural format how the making of Devi Durga unfolds in its idol form as well as in form of Jyanto Durga (Durga Live). It depicts the activities performed on human body for the formation of Goddess Durga, Mahishasur, The Lion, Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess Saraswati, Lord Kartik and Lord Ganesha live idols - "Jyanto Durga". Jyanto Durga (Durga Live) is an experience of the Durgautsav through this diminishing form of performing art. It is a tribute to the thousands of such artists who have brought joy in-spite of the associated hardships.