Posted:
It may be a perfectly good story, but it is ruined for me by its lack of understanding of Bengali culture. The serial purports to be based in Kolkata but has nothing of Kolkata or Bengal in it. It should have been shot in a culture the makers understand.
1. For a Bengali it is gross sacrilege to say that Kolkata is famous for two things - Durga Puja and the Goenka family. What happened to Tagore and all the great names and institutions of Bengali culture?
2. The Durga Puja shown in the serial has nothing in common with Bengali Durga Pujas anywhere in the world, and not just in Kolkata.
a) The bevy of dancing girls in front of the goddess is simply unacceptable. Women do not dance before the goddess as part of the rituals or puja. The makers seem to have been inspired by Bhansali's film Devdas. But Bhansali is a Gujarati whose ideas of Durga worship have been formed by what happens within his own community.
b) Offering the first bhog is never an issue, even in a communal (sarvajanin) puja pandal. And bhog is never offered the way it is shown in the serial. Politics in sarvajanin puja pandals do exist but reveal themselves in much more sophisticated way as most Bengali Hindus know! Bhog is the special food offering to the goddess and it is prepared under very strict conditions in a place that only a few people are permitted to enter while it is being cooked. And it is offered to the goddess only by the officiating priest. As the surname itself indicates, the Goenkas are what is known as a 'Marwari' family, obviously Baniyas, who cannot claim to be Brahmins by any means. I am sorry to bring in caste into this but Durga Puja is after all a traditional element.
3. To show the iconic Calcutta Club, a well-known Kolkata landmark, as Dr Dayal Thakur's house, is sheer stupidity. There are plenty of lavishly appointed houses in Kolkata that could have done the job.
4. No house or building in Kolkata overlooks the Ganga in the fashion that is shown the serial.
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Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
