A migrant from Kolkata started the trend of theme puja in Lucknow

LUCKNOW: Colourful and artistic Durga puja marquees have sprung up in every nook and corner of the city, reflecting a time for rejoicing and celebrating not just the festival but life. However, while the focal point of attention in the pandals is the idol of the Goddess of power, it is the theme which is equally eye-catching, often highlighting contemporary issues.

The credit for introducing theme-based puja in Lucknow in 2007 goes to Asim Matya, a flower decorator who migrated to the city from Midnapore district of West Bengal for work about 20 years ago. |

Back then, Matya had no inkling that he would make a name in the city one day and become the most sought pandal artist after two decades.

Matya , 44, started working in Lucknow as a wedding decorator and later as a pandal maker. After working at Shamiyana Ghar in Qaiserbagh, he started his pandal-making work in 2006. “However, I had to suffer a loss of ₹8 lakh and sell my wife’s jewellery to recover it,” he said. “In 2007 I was the first to come up with the idea of theme pandal in Lucknow with the Banga Bharati Durga Puja Committee and then in 2008 at the Rabindra Pally Durga Puja Committee,” he said.

As Matya’s work gained popularity, Bengali puja committees began to approach him for work in their pandals that resembled that of Kolkata which is world famous.

He is now a well-known pandal artist and most sought after during Durga Puja and Ganesh Chaturthi. Even though he still has a flower decoration business, during Durga Puja he works with a team of around 60-70 people, all from his village who come here one or two months before to give shapes to popular pandals in the city .

“This year I’m making three big pandals, including the Ram Temple theme pandal in Sahara Estate, Vatican City pandal in Model House and Akshardham pandal at Ansals. Apart from that, there are other small pandals like Kedarnath temple pandal in Rajajipuram,” said Matya.

Some of Matya’s work is still remembered among Lucknowites for which he has even won accolades, including a grand replica of Vrindavan’s Prem Mandir in Sector F of Jankipuram in 2023, 135 feet high pandal modelled on Vrindavan’s Chandrodaya temple in 2022 and the one modelled on Bollywood blockbuster ‘Baahubali’ among others.