Bhatwadicha Raja, the 54-year-old Ganesh Mandal in Ghatkopar came up with an interactive theme via a play which was related to the beginning of Ganeshotsav since the time of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj to freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak. Though different members of the Mandal have different political ideologies, they come together for the festival showing unity as Tilak intended to do when he coined the idea of public gathering through the Ganesh festival as part of the freedom struggle.
This festival at Bhatwadi is celebrated under the aegis of Akhil Bhatwadi Sarvajanik Utsav Mandal
Vice-chairman Vijay Varpe said. “Our Mandal represents over 50,000 people of the area. Though we have different backgrounds and support different political parties, Ganeshotsav is the only time when we all come together and celebrate the festival. I hope we can continue this legacy for generations to come ”
One of the members of the Mandal, Pratik Jadhav said, “Our Mandal always makes sure that we organise interactive themes. This year the theme is 75 years of Indian Independence where we have depicted important incidents from the lives of freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Lokmanya Tilak, Rani Laxmibai and many more. The members of our Mandal practised for the enactment to make sure they engage the audience and also try to relive our history. The show is organised every day for four hours in the evening with 6 enactments per hour.”
“We select songs of late Lata Mangeshkar for most of the music during the enactment as a tribute to her, said Prakash Gole, secretary of the Mandal.
“We began making the idol three months in advance. As an eco-friendly move, we used sarees for decoration instead of plaster of paris (POP), said, Atul Khule, art director of the Mandal.
