Theme pujas dominate Agartala, rural Tripura prefers

Theme-based marquees have dominated the community Durga Pujas of the Tripura capital while the rural areas of the state prefer the traditional ones.

The big-budget puja committees have themed their marquees on Uttarakhand's Badrinath Temple and Rajasthan's Seesh Mahal among others.

Organisers said the theme-based pujas act as crowd pullers as opposed to the traditional ones.

Netaji Play Forum, a big-budget puja committee in the town has spent over Rs 40 lakh to build the palace depicted in Bollywood film 'Padmaavat'.

"We based our marquee on the palace depicted in the blockbuster film 'Padmaavat' as we think it will act as a crowd puller. A lot of people have thronged our marquee in the first few days and we expect more people in the coming few days," secretary of Netaji Play Forum, Gautam Paul said.

The marquee is made of bamboo, polystyrene, wood and cardboards while the clay idol has been made by artisans from West Bengal's Nabadwip.

Another Durga Puja committee, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan, has spent Rs 35 lakh to build the replica of Sheesh Mahal in Jaipur.

"Many people had requested us to build our marquee themed on Sheesh Mahal as they could not visit Rajasthan but wanted to have a taste of the architecture in Agartala itself," president of the club, Shibu Saha, said.

Granite stones and glasses have been used to decorate the marquee.

Shiv Nagar Modern Club has built its marquee based on the Badrinath temple.

The marquee depicts the temple situated atop a snow- capped peak on the banks of a lake.

Dipak Saha, one of the puja organisers of the club, said, "We are always on the look for newer themes."