Make Calcutta Relevant Again has launched the official lookbook for the upcoming The CCU Festival 2025, titled Reverse Nostalgia. The lookbook reimagines Kolkata’s past through a contemporary lens, featuring some of the city’s most influential creative entrepreneurs.
Far from a sentimental glance backward, Reverse Nostalgia is a manifesto of reinvention — demonstrating how Kolkata’s heritage, subcultures, and artistic spirit are being transformed into engines of economic growth. With India’s cultural and creative industries valued at over USD 200 billion (7% of GDP), Kolkata is asserting its role as a rising hub where business meets art.
The Faces of Reverse Nostalgia
Each page of the lookbook features entrepreneurs and creators who embody Bengal’s creative economy:
- Darshan Dudhoria (Bari Kothi/Indian Silk House) – reviving Murshidabad’s silk and Sheherwali culture into a thriving luxury economy.
• Pragya Chopra (On-Off Online Media) – shaping Bengal’s digital storytelling frontier.
- Shuli Ghosh & Rewant Lokesh (Sienna) – blending craft, design, and cuisine into a sustainable creative enterprise.
• Rishika DasRoy (Bengal Paddle/The Barge Company) – transforming the Hooghly into a hub for cultural cruises and water sports.
• Anand Puri (Trincas) – reinventing Park Street nostalgia into a contemporary live music business.
• Q (Filmmaker) – Kolkata’s enfant terrible of cinema, he is exporting rebellious storytelling to global audiences.
• Niloy Das (Lizard’s Skin Tattoos / Kolkata Tattoo Festival) — founder of Lizard’s Skin Tattoos, one of the pioneering tattoo studios in India, and organiser of the multicultural Kolkata Tattoo Festival, which brings together international artists and thousands of enthusiasts.
• Calcutta Skateboarders – rolling a grassroots movement into Bengal’s slice of the global skate economy.
• Tridha Choudhury (Kaizen Experiences) – actor and founder of an experiential travel brand that merges cinema with luxury journeys.
• Mudar Patherya (Kolkata Restorers Project) – illuminating 500+ heritage facades and monetising nostalgia through urban pride.
• Satrajit Sen (National Award-Winning Director) – championing independent cinema with global collaborations.
• Pauline Laravoire (Sustainability Leader) – connecting Bengal’s green innovation to the USD 12 trillion global sustainability market.
• Meghdut RoyChowdhury (Make Calcutta Relevant Again / The CCU Festival) – curator of the city’s creative zeitgeist, building the platforms where art and business converge.
“The Reverse Nostalgia lookbook is more than style — it’s an economic story,” said Meghdut Roy Chowdhury, curator of CCU Festival. “Each face represents how Kolkata is monetising creativity, turning nostalgia into industry, and reclaiming its role as a global cultural capital.”
The lookbook serves as the prelude to The CCU Festival 2025, to be held from September 19-21 at the Biswa Bangla Exhibition Center, Newtown, in partnership with the Kolkata Tattoo Festival. The festival will unite art, culture, entrepreneurship, and innovation — positioning Kolkata as the city where heritage fuels tomorrow.
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