Before they sealed the script of Lootera,co-producer Vikas Bahl and director Vikramaditya Motwane went scouting for locations that could give the feel of the India of the 50s . After a series of recces,they zeroed in on West Bengals Purulia district. The old world charm is still intact there and its only after Vikramaditya travelled extensively that we thought of Bengal as the perfect location, says Bahl. Director Sujoy Ghoshs thriller Kahaani shot entirely in Kolkata is a beautiful montage of the citys picture postcard-like locations. Still,various aspects of the city,which can lend themselves to striking cinematic visuals,remain untapped,at times even forgotten. When filmmaker Ribhu Dasgupta decided to film one of the scenes of Michael in the docks of Kolkata,producer Anurag Kashyap was a bit amused. Kashyap apparently had no idea that the city had a port. There is a lot in the city that has remained untapped in Hindi films. I have tried to explore those areas, says Kolkata-bred Dasgupta,whose directorial debut Michael is warming up for a year-end release following a string of festival outings. In the months to come,however,Hindi movie-goers will see a lot of Bengal on the big screen. Anurag Basus upcoming Barfi! is set in Darjeeling in North Bengal. After showcasing North India in his earlier movies,Dibakar Banerjee will shoot his next in Kolkata. The overexposure of Mumbai,Delhi and the Hindi heartland has made Hindi filmmakers look for new locales. When you shoot in a region that is still virgin,it brings a lot of novelty to your film, says Bahl. Kolkata boasts of European-style structures while rural Bengal remains relatively untouched by urbanisation. This makes it easier to set period films,such as Barfi! and Lootera,in the state. Parts of Bengal are almost frozen in time; the old houses,signposts and streets still look the same. It is easier to recreate the old era here, says Basu whose Barfi! is set in the 70s. For Basu and Ghosh,both of whom are from Kolkata,the primary reason for choosing Bengal as the setting is their familiarity with its milieu. They have a nuanced understanding of the region,and that helps a great deal in building the characters and the story. If you know the world very well,that makes the craft much more comfortable for any filmmaker. For instance,like most Bengali children,Darjeeling has been one of my favourite holiday destinations, says Basu. In fact,he wrote Barfi!s script in Darjeeling,where Ranbir Kapoors Gorkha character lives. The understanding of the region and its people also enables the filmmakers to use the backdrop as a character the way Ghosh has done in Kahaani and Mani Ratnam in Yuva (2004). According to Ghosh,a thorough knowledge of the citys alleys,its nook and corners helped him create the labyrinthine structure of Kahaani. The character of Vidya Bagchi was a metaphor for Ma Durga,so the citys Dussehra celebrations and my protagonist were symbiotic, he adds. It is somewhat similar for Dasguptas Michael too,where its eponymous character played by Naseeruddin Shah and the citys deteriorating structures find a parallel. I wanted to capture the cold,big buildings that would also signify the decadence of the character, he says. Even though Hindi films have been shot in Bengal in the past,the new breed of filmmakers have captured a more contemporary feel of the region,barring the city archetypes trams,the Victoria Memorial,hand-pulled rickshaws and the Howrah Bridge. I wanted to show the city beyond the archaic elements, says Onir,whose I Am had one of its stories set in Kolkata.
