‘Antaheen’ to ‘Padatik’: Celebrate the spirit of Kolkata with these 5 classic movies

A place can’t be owned by the artifacts. You can’t just define Kolkata by the iconic Howrah Bridge or Victoria Memorial. One can’t understand a place by only a building or a statue. Kolkata, or any city in this context, is best defined by the inhabitants, culture, traditions and activities that make the city special. So what films capture Kolkata, its culture and its people the best? Here we enlist 5 Bengali films that have celebrated the undying spirit of Kolkata. These films are a must-watch, especially in this hour of crisis when we seek for hope and positivity amid the corona crisis.

In ‘Padatik’ we see Kolkata as in the early 1970s, a place filled with chaos and history. All of it lurches into a dark future portrayed in scattered fragments. This film finds Mrinal Sen taking up salient issues amid a period of political turmoil. He begins with and occasionally goes back to, rolling the newspaper headlines that throughout the film create an essence of the tidal wave of nearing crises and invite either panic or hopelessness. The narrative follows a young political activist (Dhritiman Chatterjee) who escapes a prison van and takes shelter in a posh apartment owned by a sensitive young woman (Simi Garewal).

This Satyajit Ray classic reflects on the corruption, greed and disturbing inequalities that have troubled Kolkata’s modernization in the mid 20th century. It’s narrated through the story of an ambitious young man working in a private firm in Kolkata and the conflict he goes through while climbing up the society ladder.

It’s an intertwining compilation of stories set against the Kolkata backdrop. It not only tells the story of contemporary urban India but it’s also a reflection of modern Kolkata. With a range of realistic and relatable characters along with a vibrant Kolkata as an ever charming backdrop, ‘Antaheen’ is a delightful cinematic experience.

‘Calcutta 71’ narrates the violence and corruption throughout ages. The Mrinal Sen directed film is based on 4 short stories by reputed writers. All the stories are connected or interlinked to give a powerful statement. A straightforward study of the political turmoil of the seventies, ‘Calcutta 71’ documented the agony of the common people. It served moments of high intensity that has been rarely reached in Indian cinema. Mrinal Sen collected the raw footage for this film since 1966. It took five years to make it and the film was released in 1972.

A woman belonging to a middle-class family breaks the traditionalist norm to start her career as a salesgirl in this Satyajit Ray classic. You may ask why 'Mahanagar' is one of the most significant films of all time on this list. The reason lies in Ray’s extraordinary thoughts. Instead of introducing her work as a revolutionary step, Ray used the plot as an act driven by the economic crisis that time. This film showed how the dominated sex can gift economical uplift for the family and even for the country if given freedom. This idea is no doubt extremely relevant in modern society too.