Stars celebrate Durga Puja at home and abroad

Durga Puja, the biggest festival for the Bangladeshi Hindu community, ended yesterday with Bijoya Dashami. This year, many familiar faces from the film and television world marked the occasion in their own distinctive ways—some with family, some on stage, and some thousands of miles away from home.

Actress Bidya Sinha Saha Mim spent the festival moving between three cities—Dhaka, her parental home in Rajshahi, and her in-laws' residence in Cumilla. After celebrating Saptami in the capital, she travelled to Rajshahi on Monday to spend time with her parents, before joining her in-laws for Dashami. Alongside her family visits, Mim also took part in several television and online programmes and filmed new commercials.

Actor Bappy Chowdhury observed the festival abroad for the first time. Currently in the United States, he is scheduled to join a Dashami event at New York's Times Square. Bappy, who grew up celebrating in Narayanganj and visiting local pandals, admitted he missed the company of family and friends this year.

For Puja Cherry, the celebrations were tinged with sadness. Known for visiting pandals with her mother every year, she has been without her since her passing last year. Although she visited several mandaps with friends and shared photos on social media during Mahashtami, Puja said the absence of her mother left her feeling hollow.

Actress Mondera Chakroborty, who usually spends Puja in her ancestral home in Khulna, remained in Dhaka this year due to work. She visited mandaps in the capital with relatives but confessed she missed the festivities back in Khulna.

Singer Shithi Saha, whose family has organised Puja in Sirajganj for more than 150 years, performed at the Sharadiya Cultural Festival hosted by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs at Shilpakala Academy on Monday. She was due to return to Sirajganj to conclude the celebrations with family.

Producer and presenter Debashish Biswas began Puja at home before flying to the United States. Like Bappy, he is set to appear at a Times Square programme on Dashami. Actor Manoj Pramanik, currently studying on a scholarship at the Busan Asian Film School in South Korea, marked the occasion abroad, sending his Puja greetings from there.

From Dhaka to Rajshahi, from Sirajganj to New York, and even as far as South Korea, this year's Durga Puja once again reflected the mix of tradition, family and performance that defines the festival for Bangladesh's cultural figures.