For 87 years, Bengalis all over India tune into Mahisasur Mardini - a radio programme in the voice of the legend, Birendra Krishna Bhadra and listen to Mahalaya – a chant sung in praise of the Goddess during Durga Puja. For decades, this tradition continued, and it was never altered whatsoever. It was this time that people got to experience Mahalaya like never before, a Mahalaya of a different style, a Mahalaya with a different ‘Dhun’. Big FM, being one of the biggest radio channels in India decided to forefront this cause and created BIG Mahalaya, a chant with equality and equal representation of women at its heart. The thought was simple – when Mahalaya is a praise of a Goddess, a woman; then how is it that the chant was never sung in a woman’s voice? BIG FM wanted Bengalis to experience the narration of Mahisasur Mardini with women taking the lead in the radio programme. For this, we collaborated with one of the famous singers in Bengal, Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta who is also an exponent of Rabindra Sangeet to recreate the new Mahalaya. A series of musicians and artists were handpicked by Swagatalakshmi for this narration and the chants which was then aired on Big FM at 4 AM on the 28th of September.