Celebs like Madhur Bhadarkar visit Ganpati mandals

While Mumbai is usually crazy about Bollywood, Ganpati is the time when Bollywood becomes crazy about it. In its 9th year, the Times Utsav Moorti Sanman saw 852 entries compete for the coveted title of the best Ganpati mandal in the city. Of the 14 shortlisted mandals, our celebrity judges visited some of them
MANDAL: KHETWADI, 12TH LANE, GIRGAUM
Member of Parliament Milind Deora visited the Ganpati mandal at Khetwadi, 12th lane in Girgaum.The grand mandal has been designed as a rajwada style palace. During his visit, Deora told us that since his mother is a Maharashtrian, the festival means a lot to him and he has been following it for many years. He added, “This area has some of the best mandals not just in Maharashtra, but also in India.”
MANDAL: ANDHERICHA RAJA, AZAD NAGAR
After offering his prayers, director Madhur Bhandarkar told us, “Having been brought up in Maharashtra, the Ganpati festival means a lot to me. I have been a bhakt of Ganpati always and I am his blessed child. I have been walking to the Siddhivinayak Temple for the past 18 years. I remember post Trishakti, when I was a nobody, the film just came and went. That patch of one-and-half years was very humiliating for me in the film industry and trust me, it was only Ganpati bappa who was there to rescue me.”
MANDAL: FORT VIBHAG
Ace photographer Atul Kasbekar visited the Fort Vibhag mandal in the city. Even though he confesses to not being “ritualistic”, Atul told us that this festival is extremely close to his heart since his children, a pair of twins, were born on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. “I’ve been visiting mandals for a couple of years and the only way to describe them is incredible,” he said. This particular mandal has been designed as a replica of the grand Mysore Palace in Karnataka.
- Priya Gupta & Garima Sharma