Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller in a moment from Casanova

Sixteen Hindi films, six Bengali films, one dated English film. That?s been the big-screen story in town, week after week.

Now, it?s taken a Casanova for Calcutta to renew its romance with English movies. At a time when Hollywood films just refuse to travel east, Calcutta will be the first metro to screen this period piece.

So, before he climbs the Brokeback Mountain in other more-fancied metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, this year?s Best Actor Oscar nominee Heath Ledger will arrive on the city?s big screen in and as Casanova this Friday.

?We feel Calcutta loves non-mainstream cinema and Casanova is that typical offbeat film with a little European flair,? says Vikramjit Roy, head, publicity and acquisitions, Sony Pictures Releasing of India Limited, distributing Columbia Tristar films in the country. ?So, we are releasing the film first in Calcutta before taking it to other cities.?

But before you break into a Jai Bangla jig, here?s a filmi fact: Casanova comes at the cost of the multiple-Oscar nominated Memoirs of a Geisha. ?Most of the other territories are releasing the Zhang Ziyi-Michelle Yeoh film on the same day, February 24,? reveals Roy. ?Memoirs... will only come to Calcutta in the next phase, once we take Casanova off the theatres.?

The math at the movies is simple: there are more than 70 Hollywood films that release in India every year. So, apart from city-specific tastes, the territorial break-up depends on ?dates, screen availability and Bollywood line-up?.

For a comparatively smaller film like Casanova, the number of prints allotted for India counts. Says distributor-exhibitor Arijit Dutta: ?If there are just four or five prints of a film, it cannot be released simultaneously in all the metros. We have to distribute such a film one city at a time with the same prints travelling from one territory to another.?

Here too, there?s a catch with Calcutta at the receiving end. If a Casanova does badly in Calcutta, it will still travel to a Delhi or Mumbai. But big films ? from Oscar contenders to The Myth ? that do not make the grade in other regions, often never make it to the city screens. ?A film has to do well in the cities where English movies are seen more (read, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore) because a lot of cost is involved if it has to release in another city (read, Calcutta),? adds Dutta.

The city multiplexes, though, are banking on Casanova to turn the tide. ?We are planning SMS contests and paid previews to give the film its best shot in the city,? says Subhasish Ganguly, general manager of INOX (City Centre). ?We are also trying to slot English films in the afternoons rather than the conventional mornings and late nights.?

How successfully Casanova woos the Calcutta audience could dictate whether English movies will stage a comeback in town.