Sonakshi Sinha in Kumartuli, Saif Ali Khan at a north Kolkata bonedi bari, Kharaj Mukherjee at Dum Dum airport — forget the traffic snarls, the cholbe na refrain, the pollution. Bollywood's latest shooting hotspot is amader Kolkata. From the city's heritage architecture to its quaint charm, a host of films this year will explore the magic of this city on screen. So you had Sonakshi Sinha and Saif Khan in the city over the weekend for Tigmanshu Dhulia's Bullet Raja. The Lootera and Special 26 units shot parts of the films here, while Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor will come down soon.

What is bringing droves of Bollywood units to Kolkata? For city boy Neeraj Pandey, it was more of a homecoming when he shot Special 26 at Dum Dum airport and Howrah station. "I have grown up in Howrah and am familiar with every nook and corner of the city. A part of the film was set in Kolkata and it was a delight coming back," he says, attributing the Bollywood focus on the city to Mani Ratnam's Yuva. Films like A Passage to India, The Namesake, Yuva and No One Killed Jessica put Kolkata under the arc lights, but it was the success of Kahaani, Barfi! and Vicky Donor — all three films have a Kolkata connect and were super-grossers last year — that was the game-changer.

Anurag Basu, who shot with Ranbir and Priyanka Chopra at the almost-chaotic Mullick Ghat, Darjipara and other areas in north Kolkata for Barfi!, says, "Kolkata, unlike Delhi or Mumbai, is underexposed on celluloid. It has a unique character, which is a directors' delight. There's also herd mentality at work in Bollywood. If a unit comes to Kolkata and tastes success , others will follow." For the city and its people, Sujoy Ghosh's edge-of-the-seat thriller was the best film on Kolkata in recent years. Arindam Sil, who worked with Sujoy on Kahaani, says, "Satyajit Ray had once said that if you have to understand Kolkata, you have to reach out to its art. Sujoy showed Kolkata is not just about the Howrah Bridge, trams and hand-pulled rickshaws."

It's time to bust Kolkata myths

It helps that shooting in the city is economical, feels Arindam Sil. "For Sujoy's film, 95% of the unit was from Kolkata. Again, once you step out of the city, you get the sea, mountains, rural Bengal — which make for breathtaking locales." Arindam is all praise for the Kolkata crowd as well. "There's bound to be some amount of inquisitiveness, but nowhere will you find such a well-behaved crowd. The administration is also doing its best to lend support to film units; help from local clubs is an addon ," he says. Actor Kharaj Mukherjee, who has featured in both Kahaani and Special 26, says Sujoy's film was a watershed. "Earlier, too, filmmakers have shown interest in the city, but Kahaani refreshed public memory like no other film. Also, Bollywood is waking up to the local talent here, those who can act and also speak fluent Hindi!"

Busting myths about Kolkata's work culture has been of huge interest, feels Sujoy. "There were quite a few wrong notions about the city, which has changed over the years. Kolkata is self-sufficient . In fact, when I came down to shoot Kahaani, only Nawazuddin Siddiqui was an outsider to the city. Vidya (Balan) and I have always had a strong Kolkata connect. I came here and worked with local technicians. If an entire film can be shot in Kolkata, why not films in portions? I think that's the cue," says the Kahaani maker. Though Bullet Raja faced a few hiccups while shooting in Kumartuli on Monday — with an unruly crowd allegedly causing damage to idols — the overall journey has been smooth. Rahul Mittra from the production says, "We have captured the locations the way we wanted to. Also, the police have been extremely helpful. I had a meeting with police commissioner RK Pachnanda and they did all that they could." He, however, has a few suggestions, "There should be single-window clearances. If the shoot gets canceled on a particular day, the unit should be allowed to can the portion again without having to apply for permissions. Also, some amount of marketing can do more to turn Kolkata into a shooting hotspot."