Nagpur: The skies poured, the dhols thundered and old Nagpur refused to stay indoors as thousands braved heavy rain on Friday to pack the streets for the 145-year-old Marbat festival, as one of the city’s oldest folk traditions unfolded on perhaps its biggest stage yet — with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Bollywood stars and foreign diplomats joining the celebrations.Towering Kali, Pili, Lal, Nili and even a Chandi Marbat moved through rain-soaked lanes, many carried entirely on the shoulders of groups of men. The spectacle peaked at Nehru Chowk during the traditional Kali-Pili ‘Milan’, when Kali bowed before Pili before being turned around in a pradakshina, sending the packed crowd into a frenzy of “Ida, pida gheun jaa ge Marbat” chants.And Marbat’s irreverent alter ego — the Badgya — ensured 2026 got its share of satire. Movie Dhurandhar’s Rehman Dakait and ‘Cockroach’ rubbed shoulders with effigies taking aim at paper leaks, social problems and Pakistan army chief Syed Asim Munir, lampooned as a “failed marshal”. An Aghori-themed performance, complete with bhasma-smeared artistes, added to the carnival.This year also marked NMC’s first formal push to showcase the home-grown festival nationally and internationally. Fadnavis joined actor Jackie Shroff, filmmaker Subhash Ghai, Marathi actor Ankush Chaudhari and cricketer Umesh Yadav, while consuls general Patrick Leverino of France, Monica Nagelgaard of Norway and Petra Theman of Finland witnessed the celebrations.Shroff brought his own dose of theatre, greeting the crowd with his trademark “Bhidu”, leading the Marbat chant and even breaking into a dance. Fadnavis said the 145-year-old tradition should be developed as cultural tourism so people globally could experience it.Born in the lanes of old Nagpur in the 1880s and shaped over generations into a vehicle for folklore, protest and satire, Marbat on Friday remained unmistakably Nagpuri — only its audience had become a little more global.
