● Gunjan Mantri, who has been living in Kolkata all her life, visited Bow Barracks for the first time in December last year. She learnt about the very existence of the Anglo-Indian enclave in central Kolkata only after watching Instagram reels exploring the history of the city
● Sreya Das, a public relations executive, browses through the videos of her favourite YouTuber and picks a new swanky cafe in south Kolkata to visit on Saturday evenings.
Content creators and influencers are out there, digging out information on the hidden gems and historical anecdotes of the city as well as on the splashy, new coffee shops, watering holes and boutiques, and updating them on photo video and information-sharing social media platforms. The endless stream of photos, videos and reels on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube is fuelling “re-discovering” of Calcutta. Suitably influenced, viewers are chalking out trips to the city’s monuments, the almost-forgotten, old neighbourhoods, the Maidan, and of course to food joints—old and new—not only to enjoy the places but also for the “Instagrammable” graffiti, French windows of old mansions, or the green bench, perfect to be posed on for the next online post.
Instagram reels were launched in August 2020, the peak of the pandemic, when the world was locked up at home. The short videos, some of them informative, some of them funny, immediately caught the fancy of people, who were starved of social interactions outside. “I lived in the Burrabazar area and went to a school on B B Ganguly Street. I passed by Bow Barracks many times but was not even aware that such a para existed. During the pandemic, when I started watching Instagram reels, I first learnt about it. I found it interesting and read up on it and finally, in December 2022, I went there with a photo-walk group,” said Mantri.
The influencers are also influenced by the interest and “views” their posts garner, steering them to the various topics they create. While some have carved a niche in food, some specialise in travels. Some, like Calcutta Houses, with more than 20,000 followers, describes itself as a tableau of photographs and illustrations. Architecture enthusiasts have even asked them to document beautiful but crumbling structures for future reference. “People ask us on comments and DMs about locations of old mansions so that people can go and take pictures themselves,” said a team member.
Kolkata’s Illusion started its Instagram account in 2018 but itwas only during the pandemic that it became popular. It now has 1,80,000 followers. “From the beauty of Bengal to nostalgia, we make content on various themes,” said Moinak Bhattacharjee, founder, who runs it with co-founder Progya Biswas and admin Sagnik Dutta.
Such is the reach of influencers that business houses as well as smalltime traders approach them to reach their target audience. “They bring an element of freshness. This is why we prefer them for endorsement,” said the head of a cafe chain in Kolkata.
The walks and trails that have become popular in the city, especially during winters, are a testimony to the social media evoking interests about certain pockets and aspects of Kolkata. “There has been a renewed interest in the old neighbourhoods of the city, the communities that reside there and their culture and food,” said Arijit Banerjee, an independent photographer who organises photo walks in Burrabazar, lanes of central Kolkata and Chinatown. “Our slots get booked fast and participants take a keen interest in the history of the places. They then refer the walks to their friends and families. After the pandemic, I have doubled the number of walks because of the high demand. ”Given the sway that influencers have, hotels, restaurants, clubs, cafes, foreign missions, art galleries and even small-time businesspersons have been hiring social media managers and digital communicators, generating new employment and entrepreneurship opportunities that did not exist earlier. “The idea is to use platforms, like Instagram and Facebook, to sell an immersive experience to people, replete with food, culture and history,” said the social media manager of a star hotel in the city.
Buoyed by success, many content creators are upgrading themselves, moving from mere smartphones to high-end cameras, stabilizers, tripods, more powerful lenses and even action cameras. “From selling only analogue cameras, we have started stocking up on devices required for content creation. From influencers to those who are just starting out, we have a stream of customers coming in every day for those devices,” said Mohammad Aziz, who runs a shop in Metro Gully in Esplanade.
