Joto Kando Kolkatatei is a 2025 Indian Bengali detective mystery thriller film directed by Anik Dutta. Produced by Firdausul Hasan and Prabal Halder under the banner of Friends Communication, the film stars Abir Chatterjee and Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed in the lead roles. Written by Dutta along with Utsav Mukherjee, it marked Nawshaba's Tollywood debut. This also marked final directional venture of Anik Dutta before his untimely death on 27 May 2026.
The music has been composed by Debojyoti Mishra. Indranath Marick did the cinematography while Arghyakamal Mitra handled the editing. It was released in the theatres on 26 September 2025, on the occasion of Durga Puja 2025, to positive reviews from the critics as well as the audience alike. The film emerged as a box office success.
Plot Saba (Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed), a young woman from Dhaka, arrives in Kolkata to uncover her ancestral roots through an old photograph of her maternal grandparents, who belong to Kolkata. Her search led her to cross paths with Toposmitro, Topshe (Abir Chatterjee), a private detective who is heavily inspired by Feluda. They embark on a search across various locations in Kolkata, Kurseong, and Darjeeling, solving a trail of riddles and clever puzzles.
Cast Source:
Abir Chatterjee as Topesh Mitra Topshe Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed as Saba Roja Paromita Dey as Suzie, an Anglo Indian nightclub singer, Saba's maternal grandmother Rik Chattopadhyay as Alok Roychowdhury, Suzie's lover, Saba's maternal grandfather Dulal Lahiri as the old man at barrister bari Mithu Chakraborty as the old man's wife Aparajita Ghosh as their daughter-in-law Rajat Ganguly Soumya Sengupta Anindya Pulak Banerjee
Production Announcement The film was announced with an announcement poster on 24 August 2023. It revealed the title of the film along with the names of the lead cast, the director, editor, cinematographer, art director, costume designer, and music composer. The poster featured many iconic elements of the Kolkata cityscape in the backdrop, including the yellow Ambassador and the heritage Kolkata trams.
Development The film's title, Joto Kando Kolkatatei, has an allusion to Satyajit Ray's "Joto Kando Kathmandute". It has multiple references to different Feluda novels written by Satyajit Ray. Initially, the film was named Hemenbabaur Heyali but was later changed to Joto Kando Kolkatatei because "it isn't only about a heyali," as per the director. In an interview, director Anik Dutta said that Joto Kando Kolkatatei is an original story in itself and also serves as a tribute to Satyajit Ray for having the flavour of Ray's Feluda novels.
Dutta had written the script many years ago, but he couldn't start the filming owing to casting and production issues. He got the idea of making this film on Satyajit Ray's centenary year. He named his lead Topshe, because as per him, "It was easier to be Topshe than Feluda. Feluda was too perfect, too sharp. Topshe was the boy who saw, who narrated. He was us." He mentioned that the character is inspired by, but is not the actual, Topshe from the Feluda series.
The director added in an interview that when he thought about writing a story, keeping the character of Topshe in the center, he wanted to mold the character of Topshe from Satyajit Ray's Feluda novels in a new way, but he couldn't write a Feluda script owing to copyright issues. Later, he spoke with Satyajit Ray's son, Sandip Ray, regarding the permission and copyright infringement. Receiving a green signal, he sent the partially completed script to producer Firdausal Hasan, who insisted he carry on and complete the story.
Casting Abir Chatterjee was cast as the male lead of the film in 2022. Madhumita Sarcar was initially cast as the female lead of the film, but she was later replaced by Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed, owing to Sircar's non-availability on the filming dates allotted. This film marked the Tollywood debut for Nawshaba.
Director Anik Dutta saw some open letters that Nawshaba used to write in her father's memory during the end of 2022 on Facebook. Dutta made her the first informal offer via commenting under one of the open letters she has posted on Facebook. In an interview, she said that she didn't know if the "Anik Dutta" who had offered her a role under her Facebook post was genuine or not. Later her friends told her that it's the director himself and not anyone fake. She added that the director had sent her a part of the script and asked her to record and send it to him. This online audition went on for weeks as Dutta used to send her script snippets and she continued to send her audition clips to him. After three months, she was informed that she had been selected for the film.
Pre-production In the "Nightclub Song", to recreate the authentic nightclub culture of the city and the lifestyle of the elite class of the 60s era, the director and his team—costume designer Suchismita Dasgupta and art director Ananda Adya—relied on old photographs from the 60s era shared by the Trincas owner and anecdotes that he shared with them, which he had heard from his forefathers. To suit the dressing of that era, the men were dressed in three-piece suits with bow ties, and the females were dressed in georgettes and chiffons with either pearl or diamond necklaces.
The director mentioned in an interview "Apart from costumes, furniture and other light and décor pieces, appropriate crockery, cutlery, musical instruments, and many more accessories had to be procured to generate the correct ambience." The director also added "I constantly balance the expenses with the required effect so that it didn’t turn out looking tacky or fake." Suchismita Dasgupta mentioned in an interview "We have tried to follow the fashion trend from that time. We have taken references of Bengali and English movies from that time. Roja’s dress and gloves were bought at a vintage store in Oxford. We used silk saris and long and midi dresses for the female crowd, while the men wore suits or trousers and dinner jackets. Paroma Banerjee was kind enough to lend us saris from her brand Kalakriti, as her signature print saris are very retro in nature, and went perfectly with the scene."
Filming The first scene of the film was shot for the "Nightclub Song" in September 2023, in which the director tried to recreate the Park Street of 60's Calcutta. The song was shot in "Trincas", which is one of the oldest colonial-era restaurants in Calcutta. The schedule at Trincas started at midnight and was wrapped up at 8 am the next morning. Roja Paromita Dey shared her experience about how she had to repeat her steps every time for being in the background when close-up shots of cigar smoke or wine being poured in a glass were being taken. Roja also said that she has choreographed the song herself.
The film is based in the present day but occasionally goes back to the 1960s while solving the cues. The major part of the shooting has been done in Kolkata, while some scenes have been shot in Darjeeling and Kurseong in North Bengal. Due to his poor health, the director missed the outdoor shooting schedules in Darjeeling in November. He also missed a few schedules in Kolkata. But the executive producer, Saptarshi Majumder, senior assistant director, and cinematographer, managed to complete the schedule, avoiding any wastage of the available dates. Dutta was in touch with his team, advising them and solving any issues they faced during the shoot.
In Kolkata, the filming was done across multiple locations, including an old house in Beleghata, which is locally known as the "Barrister bari", and St. John's Church in Dalhousie. Scenes were also filmed at "The Russell Exchange", an old antique shop, the "Bourne & Shepherd" and the "Calcutta and Tribe Café". The director said that he had planned to shoot a few scenes in Bow Barracks, but owing to some unforeseen circumstances, they had to film the scene in a studio. In Kurseong, most of the filming was done in and around a dilapidated church. An infirmary and charitable hospital was recreated at the Mount Hermon School in Darjeeling. A few scenes have also been filmed at the Darjeeling Mall and Glenary's. A pivotal sequence was shot in the tea gardens of Gidda Hills. The entire filming was completed within a month.
Post production The post production and editing work started in early December 2023. Dutta's frequent collaborator Arghyakamal Mitra handled the editing. On 30 August 2025, Abir completed his patch dubbing for the film.
As per the storyline, since the character belongs to Dhaka, the director required an actress who could speak in the "Bangal" accent. But after completing the filming, Nawshaba couldn't come back to India owing to visa issues and hence couldn't complete the last part of her dubbing. The remaining portion of her dubbing was completed by Roja Paromita Dey. The director chose Paromita to dub for Nawshaba's character after he got to know that Paromita has her ancestral roots in Bangladesh and she is capable of speaking the Bangladeshi dialect.
Soundtrack
The music of the film has been composed by Debojyoti Mishra. The lyrics have been penned by Rangan Chakraborty, Aparajita Barai, Anik Dutta and Amrita Chattopadhyay.
The first song "Joto Kando Kolkatatei Title Track" was released on 17 August 2025. It has a Mozart composition blend with original elements to avoid copyright issues. The second single "Nightclub Song" was dropped on 22 August 2025. The third song "Rooftop Song" was released on 3 September 2025. The singers Abhijit Barman (Pota) and Mousumi Datta are present on-screen, singing this song at an event in the film. The fourth song "Mountain Song" was released on 17 September 2025.
Marketing The teaser was released on 7 August 2025. The teaser displayed that although the film is based in the present, it often reiterates the old Calcutta nostalgia, delving into the 60s while solving the cues.
The trailer was released on 10 September 2025. The trailer launch event was held at the PVR INOX in South City Mall, Kolkata. The event was hosted by Pratim D. Gupta. Abir Chatterjee was absent at the event owing to his contract with Windows Production. Producer said "I requested Abir to be present at the trailer launch event. But he didn't come. I will invite him in the future events too. The remaining is up to him." Director added that he asked Abir if coming to the trailer launch is also a part of "promotional activities" but he alleged that Abir didn't reply him.
The "Nightclub Song" release event was held at the Trincas, the same place where the song sequence was filmed. It displayed the jazz culture prominent in 60s Calcutta. The original singer and composer of the song, Tanya Sen and Debojyoti Mishra respectively, sang the song. Roja Paromita Dey and Rik Chatterjee impersonated their characters from the film and performed their dance from the eponymous song sequence in the film.
The premiere took place on 25 September 2025 in the absence of Abir Chatterjee. The special screening of the film was held on 18 October 2025. Abir was present at the event. Before the screening started, the director suddenly faced difficulty in breathing. After taking inhaler and acute rest, he recovered and joined the screening midway.
Release Theatrical The filming started in September 2023. Initially, the post production was scheduled to end by July 2024 and the film was planned to release in Durga Puja 2024. But upon Abir's request, the producer delayed its release. But in 2025, when the producer wanted to release it during the Durga Puja, Abir once again requested him to delay its release since he would not be able to be a part of the promotions due to his contract signed with Windows Productions.
The film was finally released on 26 September 2025 on the occasion of Durga Puja. It clashed with the simultaneous Bengali releases Raghu Dakat, Raktabeej 2 and Devi Chowdhurani.
Home media