Kolkata: In October Bengalis for the first time will celebrate Durga Puja, a Hindu religious festival, in French style.
Alliance Francaise, which is an Indo-French cultural association, is set to collaborate on Durga Puja, 2013.
Speaking to Gulf News, Stephane Amalir, director of Alliance Francaise, Kolkata, said: “It is for the first time a foreign country is taking direct interest in the biggest cultural and social event in the world, and that for many foreign tourists to have the opportunity to visit Kolkata during this time.”
However, Amalir, who is appointed by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, clarified that the French government is not directly providing funds for any religious activities, but French companies who have invested in India, are going to provide for the temporary structures, called pandals, and the idols. The puja that has been selected for the honour is the Pallimangal community that is in its 54th year.
Though the budget is relatively small at around €51,000 (Dh244,000), the organisers are expecting to open up the festival to a growing western audience, which in turn, opens a vast tourism potential.
The theme was chosen keeping in mind the French fondness for Indian cinema. During this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the host nation, France, invited India to be guest of honour in recognition of 100 outstanding years of cinema.
“The time has come for the Puja to have the international notice it deserves, and it seems appropriate that a collaboration between France and India, celebrating the world’s most universal art form during the greatest show on earth,” said Amalir.
“Both nations’ special gift for spectacle that is inherent in a successful film industry has spilled out into the streets of their cities and the lives of their people, and there is no better example of this than the Durga Puja. It shares with cinema the energy, sense of celebration and unlimited imaginative creativity that are the mark of India, and the innovative style, artistry and theatrical drama that are qualities shared by the French. What could be more appropriate than a pandal themed around cinema, creating as it will a Franco-Indian work of public art, celebrating a shared love of cinema, in the form of a free, accessible public spectacle where all the world is welcome, regardless of race or creed,” Amalir added.
Besides giving funds, France will also send artists to work with local ones to create the pandal, and a group of French artists will perform during the four-day carnival.