In pics: Spectacular show by Durga Puja committees at Red Road carnival

Preparations for the Durga Puja Carnival on Red Road began right from early on Friday morning with tableaux of different puja committees queueing up at the Kidderpore end of the grand avenue

Cultural performers were at their best to put up a grand show in the evening

It was a long walk for the cultural performers from Kidderpore to the main dais in the middle of Red Road before the carnival could start around 4pm on Friday

Even as celebrity guests trickled in towards the main dais built in the middle portion of Red Road, cultural performers beat hours of exhaustion with wide grin on their faces

A little before 4pm, chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her sister-in-law arrived at the venue and the grand parade began

The Durga Puja Carnival 2023 begins at Red Road in front of the main pavilion

The Bengali film industry’s evergreen superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee arrives at the main pavilion riding pillion on a traffic police officer’s bike before he sat down with other guests like actor-MP Dev Adhikari

Tableau after tableau kept arriving before the main pavilion while the name of the respective Durga Puja committee was announced which was followed by some performance

Foreign dignitaries were spotted enjoying themselves at the carnival, from tapping their feet to jiving in their seats. One or two were sporting enough to rise and match step with the beats of the ‘dhaak’

Mamata Banerjee, flanked by artistes from the Bengali film industry and other personalities, appreciate the performances from the Red Road main pavilion

(Top) The chief minister kept acknowledging the performances by waving a huge ‘haath pakha’ from the main pavilion; and (above) the CM and mayor Firhad Hakim praise a child for her superb performance

Mamata Banerjee borrowed some boat oars from cultural performers and handed out those to celebrities and eminent guests on the dais and requested them to mimic rowing boats to a catchy Bengali boatman’s song