Miniature Girgaum Chowpatty Visarjan Tableau Brings Mumbai's Ganpati Farewell To Life

Mumbai: At a Chira Bazar home in Girgaum, the familiar spectacle of Ganpati visarjan at Girgaon Chowpatty has been recreated in miniature — complete with surging crowds, Mumbai Police personnel, municipal workers and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde joining devotees to bid farewell to Bappa.

Miniature visarjan tableau recreated

The tableau is the creation of Mann Rele, a VFX creator and drone operator, who used 3D-printing techniques to create the figures and painstakingly assembled the scene over three months.

“Every year at Girgaon Chowpatty, thousands of people gather by the sea to say goodbye to Ganpati Bappa. My decoration shows this scene — the crowds full of love, the Mumbai Police on duty, and Maharashtra’s CM and DCM joining everyone to bid Bappa farewell. It also shares a simple message: save water and keep our nature clean,” Rele said.

For the Rele family, however, the tableau is more than an annual decoration. The family, which has lived in the century-old building for four generations, began its Ganpati tradition in 1964. Over the years, its themes have drawn heavily from Girgaum’s history, neighbourhood landmarks and cultural life.

Girgaum’s cultural connection

Girgaum occupies a special place in Mumbai’s history, having been an important centre of the freedom movement and the public Ganpati tradition popularised by Lokmanya Tilak as a means of bringing people together during the nationalist movement.

The family has previously recreated familiar neighbourhood settings. In 2023, it made a miniature of the nearby Zaoba Ram temple, which is now displayed for visitors at the temple. The following year, it created a model of a traditional ‘wada’, representing the joint-family homes that once characterised the area. In other years, its tableaux have featured the Lalbaugcha Raja pandal, including its elaborate entrance and surroundings.

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Eco-friendly festive display

“This year’s tableau is a continuation of the series,” Rele said. “And the theme reminds us of a beautiful truth: Visarjan teaches us that everything that comes must one day go, but Bappa who lives in your heart never truly leaves.”

The tableau, measuring eight feet in length and three-and-a-half feet in width, has been made using recyclable and biodegradable materials, including wood, clay, paper and PLA (polylactic acid), a biodegradable plastic derived from fermented corn starch. The Ganesha idol itself is made of clay.

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