London Durga Puja to honour Akashvani centenary at Ealing festival, October 16-18

London Sharad Utsav, one of the best-known Durga Puja celebrations in the United Kingdom, will take the centenary of Akashvani, India's public radio service, as its central theme this year, according to reports on Tuesday, 13 October 2026. The festival is organised by the Bengal Heritage Foundation, a registered UK charity, and will be held at the Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub in Ealing, west London, from 16 to 18 October 2026. Coverage of the plans says the puja will recreate the feel of a Kolkata neighbourhood celebration, with dhak drumming and Chandannagar-style lighting.

Coverage of the London theme links it to Akashvani Kolkata, whose broadcasts began on 26 August 1927, which reports present as the start of the 100-year journey being celebrated. Choosing radio as a theme lets an overseas puja speak to older members of the community who grew up listening to it, and to younger British-born Bengalis who may know Akashvani only through their parents' stories.

The Friday evening show, "Bibidha Bharati", carries the radio theme into the cultural programme. Themed pujas are now common in Kolkata, where community committees compete to tell a story through their pandals. Diaspora pujas such as London's have adopted the same idea, using a theme to connect the festival with Bengal's wider cultural history while keeping the rituals unchanged.

London Sharad Utsav has used heritage themes before. Its 2025 edition at the same venue paid tribute to the Bengali film star Uttam Kumar in his birth centenary year, with displays of his film posters. That pattern shows how diaspora groups increasingly treat Durga Puja as both a religious festival and a public showcase of Bengali culture for neighbours of other backgrounds.

The festival also reflects how the Bengali community in Britain has grown and organised. Events of this kind rely on volunteers, donations and local partnerships, and many of the larger London pujas now draw visitors from across the city, including non-Bengali and non-Indian guests who come for the music, the food and the spectacle.

Short-term: Visitors to the London puja will see a celebration built around radio's role in Bengali festive life, alongside the regular rituals, dhak performances and evening cultural programmes.

Long-term: Theme-led diaspora pujas help pass on language, music and festival traditions to children growing up abroad, and introduce Bengal's culture to wider British audiences.

Who is affected: Bengali and wider Indian communities in London and the south-east of England, devotees planning their puja visits, volunteers and performers, and local residents and visitors drawn to one of the city's larger festive gatherings.

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