Parineeta director Pradeep Sarkar captured the sentiment of many lensmen when he said “Calcutta is so beautiful, wherever you place a camera, you get a vision”. From the first sight of Howrah bridge that you stumble upon when you come out of the bustling railway station to the banks of the Ganga, there is always a moment waiting to be framed in the city’s stillness, and no one did it better than some of the stalwarts featured in this page. In most of these collections, the recurring black-and-white theme is hard to miss, perhaps because the rawness of the city can only be felt best in the absence of colours.

Calcutta: The Home and the Street by Raghubir Singh (Thames and Hudson; Rs 9,055 approx.)

This list would perhaps be incomplete without Raghubir Singh’s name on it. Heavily influenced by Henri Cartier-Bresson who he met in 1966, the self-taught photographer documented the streets of Calcutta like no other. However, unlike Bresson, Singh chose to work with colour for he felt that the Indian aesthetics are best showcased through the vibrancy of colours. His book and subsequent work have inspired thousands to choose photography as a profession. Street-style, small-format photography got a new lease through Singh’s lens.

Calcutta 1940-1970 by Jayant Patel(Niyogi Books; Rs 1,495) 

From the archives of the official photographer of the Government House (today’s Raj Bhawan), Jayant Patel, comes a walk through history. A rich collection of black-and-white photographs, this book is a tribute to the hedonistic pleasure that Calcutta had always known to be in pursuit of. Jayant Patel’s father Chhotabhai Dwarkadas moved to India from Kenya and set up Bombay Photo Stores in Park Street in 1940, which later became the official photo studio for the Government House. It was then that Jayant Patel got access to some of the iconic and moving moments of Bengal and India’s history. 

Kolkata by Nemai Ghosh (Collins; Rs 1,999)

Popularly known as the photographer for Satyajit Ray and having extensively worked with him, Nemai Ghosh’s collection of Calcutta frames is a souvenir of the city. Kolkata includes not just the memorials but also the people who defined the city, from politics to films. There is surrealist touch to tragedy, elevating even the mundane to feel glorious. 

Calcutta by Raghu Rai(Timeless; Rs 5,000)

Published in 1989, Calcutta was a revelation, seen through the eyes of a man who loved and felt concern for this city in equal amounts, and wore his heart on his sleeve as he set out to capture every nook and corner. One can hear the sound of the tram that a man is scrambling to climb on, smell the incense as devotees stretch their hands out in front of the goddess, and feel the calmness that gets reflected off the feet of the taxi driver who takes a nap in the middle of the day. An anthology in black and white, with text by Dominique Lapierre, the book has seen multiple editions over the years, along with a change in name to Calcutta-Kolkata.

Kolkata Calcutta: Some Kind of Beauty by Fionn Reilly (KMW Studio; Rs 2,999) 

There are certain expressions captured up-close in Fionn Reilly’s Kolkata Calcutta: Some Kind of Beauty that sum up the photographer’s emotions for this city. The cover picture is of a faceless man waiting on a hand-drawn rickshaw, a remnant of the British Raj, for the puller to come back, as rain pours around him. Reilly — who is a London-born photographer based out of New York and draws inspiration from the films of Satyajit Ray and the works of Raghubir Singh — captures these pauses, gentle yet harrowing, in his book documenting Calcutta. 

Our Kolkata by Jayanta Saha (self-published; Rs 1,900)

Actions intrinsic to Calcutta are captured in black and white by ace photographer Jayanta Saha, be it the man sitting on a hand-drawn rickshaw with a large gramophone on his lap or the urgency of a woman reaching out from a bus to buy a pineapple. There is a photograph where two girls on a scooter whiz past an old lady walking down the street and the faint smile on her face is a mix of pride and fondness, for the independent life that she perhaps never had the chance to experience. 

2224 Kolkata by Pierre Defaix (Peperoni Books; Rs 6,097 approx.)

“These are the first hours of my presence in India and I don’t know how to calm the thirsty beast trapped within me as in a cage,” writes Pierre Defaix in 2224 Kolkata. And one can feel that chaos within him in every page of the book as we get a zoomed-in and vibrant look at life here. From the soap-soaked, bare body of a man to the line of kajal drawn on a baby’s eyes and a woman adjusting the dupatta on her head, he lays Calcutta bare for close scrutiny, allowing us to appreciate the mundane in a never-seen-before avatar. 

Kolkata by Tiane Doan Na Champassak (Editions Bessard; Rs 12,000 approx.)

There are emotions spilling out of every page of Tiane Doan Na Champassak’s book of photographs called Kolkata. “It is the only city which holds such an intense concentration of extremes; quiet and loud, rich and poor, clean and dirty, modern and old, beautiful and ugly, past and present,” writes Champassak. There is a frenzied urgency emanating from the images as he travels around, capturing street life in all its ferocity. It is a roller coaster ride for those brave enough to feel shock at its finest.