The Beautiful Cities of Bollywood

Touring India's cities with these movies.

Indian cinema has often captured the pulse of our cities.

Beautifully. Intelligently. Sensitively.

Whether it's the food, the music, or the vibe, the movies do get it right.

Onir's Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz visits a city he knows well -- Kolkata.

As the film is set for release on February 16, a look at recent Bollywood films which took us on a tour of different cities in India.

Goa, Dear Zindagi

Dear Zindagi, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt, showed a new side of Goa.

While Alia's character is reluctant to visit the beautiful beach destination in the beginning, she ends up loving it.

 

Mumbai, Wake up Sid

Mumbai, in Ranbir Kapoor's coming-of-age film Wake up Sid, serves as a backdrop to his relationship with Konkona Sen Sharma.

A young couple tries to find their feet -- and a home -- in the big city, even as they find themselves.

 

Jaipur, Shuddh Desi Romance

Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra's Shuddh Desi Romance didn't do well at the box office, but it was praised for showing off the beauty of Jaipur, especially in the song Gulabi.

The Jalmahal Palace, Hawa Mahal, Raj Mandir and the Nahargarh Fort were shown in their glory.

 

Chennai, Chennai Express

Shah Rukh Khan embarks on a journey to Chennai to immerse his grandfather's ashes in Rameswaram. He meets Deepika Padukone on his way there, and a romance takes off.

There are breathtaking shots of the Vattamalai Murugan temple and the Pamban road in Tamil Nadu, as well as the tea gardens in Munnar, Kerala.

 

Varanasi, Masaan

Masaan, starring Vicky Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi, was shot on the banks of the Ganga.

Neeraj Ghaywan's sensitive film captures the city's burning ghats, especially the Harishchandra ghat, where funeral pyres burn round the clock.

 

Kolkata, Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz

Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz, set in Kolkata, is a love story in the age of social media.

And so, we have RJ Alfaaz (played by debutant actor Zain Khan Durrani) and meme artist Archana (played by Geetanjali Thapa) capturing the spirit of Kolkata in the monsoon.