Few people know that the beginning of taking the Ganpati festival to the masses has started from the studios of Bollywood!

‘Nirvighnam kuru mein deva sarva karyeshu always!’ Surely every work in our country begins with this mantra. There is an age-old tradition of getting every work done from the worship of Adi Dev Ganesh. But the tradition of celebrating ‘Ganpati festival’ which has spread all over the country today is not very old. Everyone knows that late Bal Gangadhar Tilak organized Ganpati for the first time in Pune (Maharashtra). Then the thought was that the dependent Indians could gather at one place on the pretext of worship and tell their masters to the British that we are also no less. It meant to demonstrate its numbers force at the time of freedom movement.

This thinking of Bal Gangadhar Tilak was first welcomed by the filmmakers. V. Filmmakers like Shantaram, Raj Kapoor, Nadiadwala, S. Mukherjee, in consultation with each other, decorated Ganpati pandals in their studios and invited the entire unit to worship every day. The gates of the studios were opened, during that time the public also started coming there. Then, seeing this, the organization of Ganpati Puja by the social workers took shape from house to house.