India, Sept. 30 -- As big-budget pandals showcasing unique themes continue to draw large crowds on Kolkata streets, some puja pandals have also been in the spotlight for focusing on either near-extinct folk art forms of West Bengal or 20th-century luminaries such as writer Leela Majumdar and filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak.

Among the oldest community puja organisers, the Kashi Bose Lane Durga Puja Samity in north Kolkata, which dates back to 1937, has paid tribute this year to Majumdar, an iconic author of children's literature who passed away in 2007 at the age of 99.

While the main pandal and the murals around the idol of Durga are based on the theme 'Pakdandi' (memory lane) and feature larger-than-life recreations of pages and characters fro...