I had not yet been to Kolkata the first time I saw Shakti Samanta’s classic noir film Howrah Bridge, nor Sujoy Ghosh’s modern noir Kahaani. But each of those films, in its own way, shows the city as a pulsing, layered entity, an almost active participant in the shady subterfuges that propel their narratives. In Howrah Bridge, the city is an ever-present, ever-shifting backdrop. The movie skulks around the city’s grimy streets, from seedy waterfront shanties to shady nightclubs. Then, as if to defend itself from the picture these dank scenes paint, the city offers us its better side, as Om Prakash drives his tonga down sunlit boulevards in the song “Sunojii yeh Kalkattaa hai,” cheerfully pointing out bright monuments and charming riverside parks.