From representing Bengali culture to capturing the beauty of Howrah Bridge, Kolkata has always been a favourite place for filmmakers. Many successful movies have been shot in the culturally rich and historic city of India, depicting its beauty in various moods, be it love, fear, confusion, chaos or mystery. From the costumes to the accent of characters to capturing the backdrop of the city in the story, these films have their setups in this rich city.
So let us have a look at some of the most successful films that are set in Kolkata:
‘Kahaani’
Starring Vidya Balan in the lead the thriller film was shot extensively in Kolkata. While Vidya played the lead, the film also starred some of the regional stars from Kolkata like Parambrata Chatterjee, Indraneil Sengupta, and many more. Be it the ancient lanes of the city to capturing the Howrah Bridge, the film kept the authenticity of the city real and natural.
‘Gunday’
Assembling the megastar cast of Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Irrfan Khan and Priyanka Chopra mustn’t have been easy. The film captured Kolkata like never seen before. Throwing the light on Kolkata's mafia raj, the film saw a major dominance of Kolkata's culture in its dialogues to the costumes the cast wore.
‘Barfi!’
‘Barfi!’ - a super hit movie directed by Anurag Basu had Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, and Ileana D'Cruz in the lead. The movie captured the beauty of Kolkata from attire to landscape, depicting it in the 1970s. Like one could see in Ileana and Ranbir's attires from traditional Kolkata. It also captured the scenic beauty of the city, apart from which the film saw a major backdrop of Kolkata's evergreen beauty.
‘Piku’
‘Piku’ is probably one of the best films of Bollywood that brought the essence of a regular Kolkata family starring Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan in the lead. As the actors majorly spoke the dialogues in the Bengali language, the film captured shots of an old Kolkata house and showcased the different nuances of family relations.
‘Parineeta’
The musical romantic film was an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1914 Bengali novella of the same name, the film stars Vidya Balan alongside Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt in lead roles. Taking the audience through a musical journey, the films celebrated the musical culture of Kolkata which was widely loved by the audience.
‘Lost’
Starring Yami Gautam, Pia Bajpai, Tushar Pandey, Pankaj Kapur and Rahul Khanna, ‘Lost’ is extensively shot across the cities in Kolkata with major glimpses of different lives in the city. All the characters in the film saw the essence of Kolkata's lanes and bylanes. The film was inspired by true events in which Yami Gautam plays an investigative journalist who searches the length and breadth of the city to find a missing boy.
The character of ‘Bob Biswas’ was a spin-off on the same character from Vidya Balan's ‘Kahaani’. The original character played by Sashwata Chatterjee had become so popular that audiences started demanding to see more of him onscreen. Soon enough a spin-off was announced with ‘Bob Biswas’ as the lead character. Shot entirely in Kolkata, ‘Bob Biswas’ starred Abhishek Bachchan in the titular role. The film also had Chitrangda Singh and Samara Tijori in lead roles. The film showcased a side of Kolkata which wasn’t explored that much in Hindi films yet.
