Sky shots for Chithirai and temple festivals in Madurai

For most of Tamil Nadu, fireworks mean Deepavali. In Madurai, the busiest weeks of our year often come in April and May, during the Chithirai festival, and again whenever a village temple near the city holds its annual utsavam. Temple committees plan these shows very differently from families, and they plan them early.

A temple show is built around the procession. The deity leaves the temple, circles the streets and returns, and the committee usually wants aerial bursts at three points: the departure, a crossing where the crowd is largest, and the return. That means three short shows rather than one long one, each with its own set of cakes, placed in advance on open ground nearby with the temple’s volunteers keeping people back.

We ask committees to contact us at least six weeks ahead. We visit the route, mark open spaces and check overhead wires along the streets, which are the main limit in the older parts of the city. A typical committee budget of ₹40,000 to ₹60,000 buys three to four 120-shot cakes, a 240-shot finale and fountains for the temple entrance.

For these events, we also share a simple written firing order with timings, matched to the procession schedule the priests give us. The committee appoints two adults to light, and one of our team stays on site through the night. Permissions from the local police and the temple administration are the committee’s responsibility, and we ask to see them before we dispatch. Book early: the Chithirai weeks fill up by February.