Make Calcutta Relevant Again

In 1929, a man from a small town near Lucknow started cooking biryani in North Calcutta with no restaurant, no advertising, and one recipe. Nearly a hundred years later, Aminia is serving 8,000 plates of biryani a day across 13 outlets, from Kolkata to Guwahati to Dubai. And that original recipe has not changed by a single ingredient. In this episode, Meghdut sits down with Mohammad Azhar and his...

When Meghdut Roychowdhury returned from abroad in 2017, he had seen what a real innovation ecosystem looks like at Stanford, at Station F in Paris, and across Silicon Valley. When he landed back in Kolkata, he realised Bengal had none of it. That gap became an obsession. Four years later, that obsession has a name. AIC Techno Innovation and Incubation Council is West Bengal's first government-...

What happens when two women walk into a slum in Topsia at 50 and refuse to walk out? Ektara happened. Started in 2011 with 20 women and no strategy, Ektara today runs one of the most extraordinary schools in this city. In this episode, Vinita tells the story of how it all started, and how she and co-founder Namrata convinced the founders of Tomorrowland to partner with them in three days. She talk...

What happens when two musicians choose a city over the world - and the city chooses them back? In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, Meghdut Roy Chowdhury sits down with the legendary musician duo Sourendro-Soumyojit - the architects of Kolkata's most celebrated music event, the brains behind collaborations with Anoushka Shankar, Norah Jones, and Shankar Mahadevan, and the men who belie...

In this episode of MCRA Podcast, host Meghdut Roychowdhury engages in a deeply enriching conversation with filmmaker and activist Indrani Pal Chaudhury. Together, they explore the intersections of identity, culture, philosophy, creativity, and social transformation through the lens of Indrani's remarkable life journey. From her childhood memories of Mother Teresa and growing up in Kolkata to colla...

Calcutta’s Durga Puja won the UNESCO cultural heritage tag and made history. But here is the secret truth, UNESCO actually said "No" to Durga Puja at first. Calcutta was about to lose its biggest global dream until one man stepped into save our pride. In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, host Meghdut Roychowdhury talks about the hidden fight that saved our city’s favorite fes...

How do swimmers eat while swimming? What happens when a jellyfish attacks? And what does it take to cross an ocean? From crossing iconic channels to taking on some of the world's toughest waters, Sayani Das joins Meghdut Roychowdhury to share the experiences, challenges and lessons behind her extraordinary journey. Through stories of channel crossings, endurance swims and life in the open ocea...

India is a treasure chest of culture, but it only stays relevant if we fight to keep it alive. In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, host Sneha Chakraborty welcomes Sonali Chakraborty and Gopal Poddar for a candid look at the state of our rural arts. We explore how their initiative has moved beyond simple craft, evolving into a total village development model that has touched the lives...

How do you pull a legendary brand back from a ₹100 crore grave? Meghdut Roychowdhury dives deep with Om Prakash Saxena, the man who looked at a "sick" company and saw a fighter’s chance. This isn't just corporate strategy; it’s the story of standing before angry workers in a locked factory and promising a comeback. Discover how Duckback transformed from a debt-ridden relic into a ₹10...

Before the ICC trophies and the global superstardom, there was a long-haired kid from Ranchi that nobody in the big leagues was looking at. Malavika Banerjee saw him first. Meghdut Roychowdhury sits down with Malavika Banerjee to talk about a time when Indian cricket was changing, and she was the only woman in the room making it happen. From being one of the only women in the Eden Gardens press bo...

Is technology catching up to human creativity, or is it just another tool in our hands? We are joined by visionary artists Sushanta, Shibani Paul, and Prabir Das to discuss the intersection of ancient tradition and modern technology. From the streets of Kolkata to the digital frontier, we explore why the human spirit remains the ultimate "processor" for art. Watch as we discuss: The phil...

Calcutta has been called slow, outdated and irrelevant for decades.  But what if that narrative was always wrong? In this episode, Meghdut Roychowdhury sits down with Vargab Bakshi, a Calcutta boy who joined Shopify in its early days, became a millionaire before turning 30 and came back home with a very different story to tell.  They talk about what it really takes to build a business from scratch...

Every October Kolkata transforms into the world's largest open air art gallery. But behind every glowing pandal and every breathtaking idol there is a human story that never gets told.  Sneha Chakraborty brings together Deep Das and Eshika Chandra, two young artists who are redefining what Durga Puja means in the modern world for a conversation that is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. They tal...

In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, host Meghdutt Roychowdhury sits down with content creator Laughtersane for one of the most honest conversations on the channel yet. They cover his early life and childhood memories, the family bonds that shaped his personality, his school experience and what it really taught him, how he developed his unique content writing style, his deep obsession...

Every year, millions celebrate Durga Puja. But very few know the hands behind it. In this episode, host Sneha sits down with two remarkable self-taught artists, Anirban and Bimal, whose lives, struggles and devotion have quietly shaped the soul of Calcutta's greatest celebration. Anirban and Bimal, two self-taught artists who never went to art school, never had a safety net and never once stop...

In this special episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, Travel Artist Sneha Chakraborty steps in as the new host while Meghdut takes a short break as he prepares for fatherhood. Sneha begins a unique mini-series exploring Durga Puja, Kolkata’s art culture, and the incredible artists behind it. Growing up across different parts of India, Sneha often felt disconnected from her own Bengali roots. He...

In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, host Meghdut Roychowdhury engages in a profound dialogue with renowned historian Tapati Guha Thakurta to explore the city’s evolving soul. From her instrumental role in securing UNESCO recognition for Durga Puja to the systemic decay of our iconic libraries and museums, Tapati reflects on the shifting identity of Kolkata. The conversation sheds ligh...

Meet Harshavardhan Neotia, the man who built Calcutta's skyline and rewrote India's real estate rulebook forever. While every other builder was making excuses for delayed projects, he did something nobody in India had ever done, invented a penalty clause that made HIM pay for every single day of delay. In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, we sit down with the quiet empire build...

In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, host Meghdut Roychowdhury sits down with the visionary Ajay Rawla, the founder of Rajbari Bawali and a champion of heritage restoration in Bengal. Ajay shares the inspiring journey of transforming a crumbling 300-year-old palace into an international landmark. From navigating complex family ownerships to finding healing through restoration after per...

In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, host Meghdut RoyChowdhury chats with comedian Anuvab Pal about Kolkata's unique cultural identity. They explore why the city's "slower" pace is actually its charm, discuss Durga Puja as the world's largest public art festival, and examine how Kolkata shapes cosmopolitan thinking globally. Pal encourages embracing the city's...

The best therapy sometimes comes wrapped in a beat and a rhyme. In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, we meet Dr. Ranjan Ghosh, a doctor who refuses to stay in one box. He talks about his journey from India to the US, why mental health conversations need to break free from clinical walls, and how rap became his tool for healing. We also explore his brand Good Karma, the intersection of...

What makes Calcutta timeless? In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, Dr. Debanjan Chakrabarti talks about Sukumar Roy as a meta-modernist, how Satyajit Ray shaped our childhoods, and why humility is India’s most overlooked cultural strength. We also explore how Kolkata remains a global city, the beating heart of cosmopolitanism, and a hub for science and culture today. A conversation abo...

Before he ever picked up a camera, he was learning the rhythm of the city through classical music. Trained by the maestro Tanmoy Bose, Pubarun Basu brings a rhythmic, human-centric approach to his photography. In this sit-down, he reveals how his father’s advice to "connect before you click" shaped his career. We explore a range of "Calcutta realities" from why the riverfront i...

What does it really take to change a city? In this powerful and deeply personal episode of Make Kolkata Relevant Again, we sit down for the second time with Mudhar Patherya — widely known as Kolkata’s Lover-in-Chief — the man behind the citizen-led illumination of over 145 heritage buildings across the city. This is not a story about awards, applause, or grandstanding. It’s about accountability, c...

In this episode of Make Calcutta Relevant Again, features Monica Lui, a successful Chinese restaurant owner who started her journey in the 90s and today runs eight outlets across Kolkata. From her childhood and family roots to building a trusted name in the food industry, Monica shares her inspiring journey, challenges, and lessons from decades of entrepreneurship.