Forget about the Raj, Job Charnock and Robert Clive. And forget about the City of Bandhs and the Naxalite movement. The Calcutta chromosome has mutated. Today, it?s a giant metro that is racing to catch up with its fast-moving rivals, Delhi and Mumbai. On offer in the city are everything from lounge bars, to discs, pubs, movies, fashion and everything else that?s fashionable in new Millennium India.

And the people on this page are some of the smart, beautiful people who have put Sonar Bangla on the global map of the hip and happening. These are also the people who carry the burden of keeping our city?s sensitivity and class without selling it out to the commerce of indulgence.

Look at it this way. Sabyasachi introduced Calcutta to the ramps of Milan. Rituparno brought Bengali sensibility to the loud world of Hindi cinema. And it took a Raima Sen to bring back the child-woman beauty into the Mallika Sherawatised Bollywood. They are the faces that gave Calcutta its new identity, its new personality and its new place under the sun.

So let us celebrate the New Year by raising a toast to the new face of Calcutta!

P.S. This isn?t an exhaustive list so don?t send in complaints if you haven?t been included.

Bikram Ghosh,
musician

• Claim to fame: His dreadlocks. No, seriously? Okay, he?s actually among the best-known percussionists in India today. Consider this: he has played in the Grammy-winning album, Full Circle, with Pandit Ravi Shankar and also on the title track of former Beatle George Harrison?s album Brainwashed. Has discovered sudden love for acting ? starred in the recent Hotath Neerar Jonye.

• USP: We just can?t get over his hair.

• Watch out for: More movies, probably with newly-wedded wife Jaya Seal who he married after a whirlwind romance on the sets of the aforementioned HNJ. Hopes to give remixes a run for their money when he releases his first Hindi pop album Sama with Shankar Mahadevan and Shaan.

• Stud meter: ****

• Oomph factor: ***** (that hair again!)

• Status: Sold out!

Anamika Khanna,
fashion designer

• Claim to fame: The bohemian designer took peasant fashion to new heights at the LIFW last year. Her fashion sense won her the Kingfisher designer of the year award in 2004. Was nominated for two major awards: MTV Lycra Style Awards (fashion designer of the year) and F Awards (Breakthrough designer of the year).

• USP: Even the drawstring pajamas she designs manage to look sexy.

• Watch out for: Her designs on men. We mean her new menswear line.

• Beauty meter: ***

• Oomph factor: ***

• Status: Happily married. Lay off.

Jeet,
actor

• Claim to fame: The shining star of hits such as Saathi, Sangi and Champion. Is also being touted as the only man who can dethrone Prosenjit ? currently the undisputed king of Tollywood.

• USP: His fresh good looks and the underdog appeal that comes from not belonging to a filmi family. In fact, in the parochial world of Bengali films, he is a third generation Sindhi settled in Calcutta. Most importantly, the brave boy does all his stunts himself.

• Watch out for: A change of image as the romantic hero morphs into a crusader who beats up the baddies in Prasant Nanda?s Aakrosh.

• Stud meter: ****

• Oomph factor: ***

• Status: The reigning dream dude.

Raima Sen,
actress

• Claim to fame: Belongs to the First Family of Bengali filmdom. Daughter of actress Moon Moon Sen and grand-daughter of the impossibly beautiful Suchitra Sen. Raima?s only competition is from sexy little sister Riya. But then, she can?t touch Raima in the histrionics department.

• USP: Can be your next-door gal in a Boroplus ad or the matured actress in Rituparno Ghosh?s Chokher Bali. Currently, the queen of Bengali period drama.

• Watch out for: Vidhu Vinod Chopra?s Parineeta. The prolific Rituparno has also repeated her in his next venture, Antarmahal.

• Beauty meter: ***

• Oomph factor: ****

• Status: Extremely Chaseable.

Rituparno Ghosh,
director

• Claim to fame: Host of critically acclaimed movies. Also known for the intricately embroidered kurtas and uttariyas he habitually sports.

• USP: Can make even Aishwarya Rai act. Twice.

• Watch out for: Slew of involved human dramas he?s sure to be working on at any given moment. Another National Award for Raincoat, maybe?

• Stud meter: ***

• Oomph factor: He?s cerebral.

• Status: Anybody?s guess

June,
actress

• Claim to fame: An accidental entry into Tollywood, thanks to the Miss Calcutta crown. Almost carries Calcutta?s Page Three on her slim shoulders. Besides seducing the camera, she has also directed the forgettable Swapna Sundari. Has been influenced by Richard Gere into discovering Buddhism.

• USP: Don?t go by her strapless outfits, she nurses a bleeding heart for the homeless and downtrodden.

• Watch out for: More directorial ventures from her. And no, she is not disappearing from Page Three either.

• Beauty meter: ****

• Oomph meter:*****

• Status: Suddenly Single.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee,
fashion designer

• Claim to fame: Calcutta?s answer to Rohit Bal. Consistently wows front-benchers at fashion weeks with his whacky collections that people can?t stop talking about. And copying.

• USP: Boy-next-door charm and a keen eye for what is fashionable.

• Watch out for: How other designers do toned-down rip-offs of Sabya?s funky designs.

• Stud meter: ****

• Oomph factor: ****

• Status: Availability unknown.

Rituparna Sengupta,
actress

• Claim to fame: The reigning queen of Tollywood. Straddles the world of commercial films and high-brow productions without batting those perfectly curled eyelashes. Has bagged two national awards ? and all the A-list directors just love her.

• USP: Can seriously act. Is also rumoured to be a nice girl to boot. Is she for real?

• Watch out for: Steps into Bollywood with Main, Mere Patni Aur Woh. Also gives the glycerine a break with a move into comedy.

• Beauty meter: *****

• Oomph factor: *****

• Status: Desirable from head to toe.

Sourav Ganguly,
cricketer

• Claim to fame: The most controversial Indian skipper to ever wield the willow. Also one of the most successful, though that may be a wee bit easy to overlook, given his recurrent run with controversy.

• USP: The sexiest chest in town.

nWatch out for: Forget the next game, just look out for his restaurant, Sourav?s. He might just be changing his line of attack with this one.

• Stud meter: ****

• Oomph factor: ***

• Status: Taken by Dona. Strictly unavailable.

Karan Paul,
entrepreneur

• Claim to fame: Calcutta?s Mills and Boon hero ? the suave businessman with money, looks and charm.

• USP: Can handle the boring business stuff like overseeing the financial planning of the Apeejay Surrendra Group (yawn!) and shake a leg all through the night.

• Watch out for: New mergers and acquisitions, and we mean both personally and professionally.

• Stud meter: ****

• Oomph factor: ***

• Status: Most eligible bachelor in town