Jackie Shroff Attends Nagpur's Marbat Festival, Urges Global Audience

Actor Jackie Shroff was among the attendees at Nagpur's annual Marbat festival, where he said the centuries-old celebration deserves a global audience. Filmmaker Subhash Ghai accompanied him at the event.

"This is a very good program; the entire world should know about this program. Everyone in the whole world should watch such a program, not just here — everyone should see it," Shroff said.

The Marbat festival is held every year in the month of Bhadrapada and brings thousands of residents onto the streets for processions built around large effigies. Known as Marbats, these figures are crafted from bamboo, paper and cloth and stand for evil forces, social evils and issues troubling society.

Smaller effigies called Badgyas, representing demons and negative tendencies, are also carried in the processions and form a key part of the festival's symbolism.

The celebrations blend cultural tradition, public participation and social messaging, offering a platform to highlight social problems and unpopular issues while drawing communities together. The processions wind through different parts of Nagpur amid slogans, music and traditional chants, with thousands lining the routes to watch.

The festival ends with the effigies being set on fire, a ritual that symbolises the destruction of evil and the victory of good. The Marbat festival remains a distinctive cultural marker for Nagpur, reinforcing its enduring message through processions, rituals and chants.