Art and Culture

National Award-winning Ramnami puts spotlight on community behind Chaltabagans Nishan theme

by Trans World Features | @twfindia 24 Sep 2026, 05:59 am

Kolkata: The Manicktala Chaltabagan Lohapatty Durga Puja Committee has welcomed the National Film Award for Ramnami, which was named Best Hindi Documentary at the 72nd National Film Awards.

The film, made by Bharatbala Ganapathy, tells the story of the Ramnami Samaj of Chhattisgarh.

The same community inspires Chaltabagan’s 84th Durga Puja theme, ‘Nishan — The Mark’.

President Droupadi Murmu presented the award on 22 September 2026 at Ekta Nagar, Gujarat.

It recognises a devotional community whose members have inscribed the name of Ram across their bodies since the 1890s, as a peaceful answer to being denied entry at the temple door.

Visitors to the Manicktala Chaltabagan Lohapatty Durga Puja pandal in North Kolkata will this autumn walk through the story that the film has brought to national attention.

Conceived by artist Aditi Chakraborty, ‘Nishan’ traces godna - the tattoo - as one of India’s oldest acts of faith, protection and quiet protest, with the Ramnami Samaj at its centre.

Elders of the community were guests of honour at the theme’s launch in Kolkata on 31st August, 2026, where they performed chantings from the Ramcharitmanas.

“When we chose the Ramnami Samaj as the heart of Nishan, we knew we were telling a story India needed to hear. The National Award confirms it. The film has carried its mark to the nation; this Puja, Chaltabagan will carry it into the streets of Kolkata and, through the Durga Puja Connect app, to devotees around the world,” said Sundeep Bhutoria, Chairman, Chaltabagan Durga Puja.

The theme is accompanied by a special musical composition by Grammy Award winner and Padma Bhushan recipient Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

It will also reach audiences worldwide through the Durga Puja Connect app. Mahalaya falls on October 10, 2026, and the Chaltabagan pandal will open to visitors during the Puja days.

Founded in 1943 in the old iron quarter of Manicktala, North Kolkata, the Manicktala Chaltabagan Lohapatty Durga Puja is one of the city’s most closely watched theme-led pujas.

Its honours include the Asian Paints Sharad Shamman, induction into the True Spirit Puja Hall of Fame, and the Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman 2025.

The Ramnami Samaj is a devotional community of Chhattisgarh, founded in the 1890s, whose members inscribe the name of Ram across their bodies as a lifelong pledge of devotion and as a peaceful response to caste exclusion.

They wear a block-printed odhni bearing the same inscription, gather annually for a Bhajan Mela, and recite the Ramcharitmanas.