07 September,2026 03:49 PM IST | Kolkata | mid-day online correspondent
Durga Puja 2026: Chorebagan’s 91-year legacy gets a stunning ‘Beyond Sound’ Theme. File pic
Kolkata's Durga Puja season is beginning to take shape, and Chorebagan Sarbojanin Durgotsab Samity is already looking to make a strong impression with its 91st edition.
The North Kolkata puja committee has unveiled its theme, âBeyond Sound', setting the stage for a celebration that organisers believe could draw large crowds and add another striking chapter to the city's famed festive landscape.
The unveiling has also brought back one of Kolkata's most familiar Durga Puja conversations - the friendly competition between the city's north and south.
With committees across Kolkata increasingly using elaborate themes, installations and artistic concepts to attract visitors, Chorebagan's organisers believe this year could see North Kolkata make a particularly strong showing.
Chief Advisor of Chorebagan Sarbojanin Durgotsab Samity, Tamoghna Ghosh, said the excitement surrounding Durga Puja in Bengal was already building and expressed confidence that the committee's latest theme would stand out among the city's many celebrations.
"Durga Puja in Bengal is always special, but this year it promises to be even better, drawing even more eager visitors," Ghosh said, adding that he believed the Chorebagan theme would be among the finest in Kolkata.
For the organisers, however, the scale of the festival is about more than simply attracting visitors. The themed pandals have become an important part of Kolkata's festive identity, with committees competing to create experiences that combine devotion, architecture, design and storytelling.
Ghosh said this competitive spirit could work in North Kolkata's favour this year. "This time, North Kolkata is set to outshine South Kolkata," he said.
BJP MLA Vijay Ojha also pointed to the rivalry as an enduring part of Kolkata's Durga Puja culture. According to him, committees put considerable effort into their themes and decorations in the hope of attracting the largest crowds of devotees.
While South Kolkata has traditionally been considered a major destination for themed puja-hopping, Ojha said committees across the city continue to push themselves to create increasingly elaborate celebrations. He singled out Chorebagan's latest effort, saying its theme could draw massive crowds and set a new benchmark for public celebrations.
Behind the elaborate installations, however, lies a race against time. Theme artist Susanta Shibani Paul said the committee had only around two months to prepare this year's Puja, making the project particularly challenging.
Paul said the preparations were also taking place under a new administration in Bengal, adding another layer to the process.
Despite the compressed timeline, the team is aiming to finish the work before the local community preview, following which the venue will be opened to the public.
The tight schedule has not diminished the ambition behind the project. Paul sees Kolkata's Durga Puja as having moved far beyond conventional festive decoration, describing it as a vast street-art celebration that has the potential to gain even greater international recognition.
He argued that the sheer scale of Kolkata's festival gives it a distinctive place on the global cultural map, with neighbourhoods transformed every year through temporary architecture, installations and artistic interpretations.
The celebrations also brought a distinctly Odisha-linked spiritual perspective to the festivities. Daitapati Bhabani Das Mahapatra, Chief Sevayat of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri, spoke about the deep devotional connection that Lord Jagannath and Maa Durga share in Bengal.
Mahapatra said both deities hold a special place in the hearts of people in the state, describing the preparations for Durga Puja as an expression of that devotion.
Drawing a parallel with the grand Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath, he said Bengal's celebrations for Maa Durga were similarly marked by scale, meticulous planning and collective participation.
His comments added another dimension to the festivities - linking Kolkata's contemporary pandal culture with a broader tradition of devotion that extends beyond regional boundaries.
As Chorebagan prepares to open its doors to visitors, âBeyond Sound' is therefore poised to become more than just another Puja theme.
It arrives at the intersection of Kolkata's artistic ambition, the friendly North-South rivalry, the pressure of creating a major installation in just two months and the enduring devotional traditions that continue to define Bengal's biggest festival.
(With inputs from ANI)
