Bollywood’s obssession with Ganesh Chaturthi, from gangster dances to visarjan murders

Ganesh Chaturthi isn’t just a major festival in Maharashtra. It is also an ideal setting for Bollywood to add a devotional dance number or incorporate a character’s murder.

Celebration and death, the claustrophobic crowds of the Ganpati visarjan (immersing Ganesh idols into the sea) festivities in Mumbai provide the space for both of these in abundance. Maybe, that’s why Bollywood is indebted to this festival in particular. 

The celebration and dancing in ABCD series: Growing up in Mumbai, the street dancers of ABCD are shown to be avid participants in Chaturthi celebrations. Even though Prabhu Deva’s character Vishnu trains them in multiple dance forms, it is the visarjan dance that comes to his rescue in the end. After a crew member betrays his peers and dispenses his dance knowledge to a rival group, Vishnu’s ensemble needs to come up with a new performance at the last moment. 

And that’s when Vishnu breaks into a melodramatic monologue explaining how his dancers should do what they do best: the raw and passionate dances from the visarjan celebrations. Interestingly, this also doubles an attempt to secularise the festival given that some of the crew members are Muslim and Christian. The crux is that the euphoria and madness of the festival is such that everyone joins in for the outdoor displays of music and dance. 

This is evident from when KK Mennon’s antagonist Jehangir Khan witnesses the visarjan-themed performance on the Hard Kaur track Sadda Dil Vi Tu (Ga Ga Ga Ganpati). Reminded of his younger days of friendship with Vishnu, Jehangir reminiscences of a time when the only dancing show the two choreographers had was the Chaturthi festivities. No matter how tacky the film’s title might be, the titular message of ABCD (AKA Anybody Can Dance) makes total sense once you’re caught in the middle of the crowds of a vibrantly chaotic festival like this. 

Capturing the ten-day festivities in Shor in the City: As is evident from the title, Shor in the City is one of those movies that glamorise the dystopian chaos of an urban jungle like Mumbai. Focusing on the parallel stories of an unlicensed publisher, an aspiring cricketer, and a newly-returned NRI, the cult hit by Raj and DK takes place entirely in the course of the ten days of the festival. 

As Ganesh Chaturthi draws to a close on the tenth day and the idols are immersed, the characters also find a new life and start walking on different paths. In this sense, the festival isn’t just used for a musical segue but serves as a metaphor for the evolution of the protagonists. 

Unleashing violence in Vaastav and Agneepath: From Vaastav to Agneepath (and even the aforementioned Shor in the City), crime dramas set in Mumbai often use the visarjan crowds as a cover for murders. While a gun can definitely bring attention, a knife can make for a silent kill in this situation. 

A prime example is the Agneepath remake from 2012. A gulaal-covered Hrithik Roshan’s Vijay exercises his arm by rotating the diyas around a ‘bappa’ idol while Deva Shree Ganesha plays in the background. After proclaiming his devotion, Vijay goes on to murder an assassin in broad daylight. 

The transition from a devotional mood to a violent one is again depicted in Vaastav. For the first time, we see Sanjay Dutt’s ‘gunda’ character standing with his family members and praying together. The audiences know what will follow next as a chain of violence is unleashed in the middle of the festival crowds but the devotional track Shendur Laal Chadhayo shows the possibility of redemption during the festive mood. 

Introducing a crucial character in Don: Contrasting with the titular Don’s scenes in dim-lit nightclubs, his doppelganger Vijay is introduced in the midst of a brightly-coloured visarjan celebration. This time, Ganpati bappa is used to establish the binary between the ‘non-sanskaari’ and ‘sanskaari’. 

More than the visuals of the scene, it is the song Mourya Re that has been the memorable aspect. Till date, the Shankar Mahadevan has become the go-to Ganesh Chaturthi song along with the likes of Agneepath’s Deva Shree Ganesha.