Painted Memories (Jaydip Mukherjee) India |

Painted Memories: Calcutta connects Raj Kapoor
Jaydip Mukherjee
India. 2025. 35 min

Many decades ago, there lived in Kolkata a boy called Shrishti Nath Kapoor, who studied in a school called Mitra Institution in Bhowanipore. When his family later moved to Bombay, he not only carried along the artistic influence that Calcutta left on him but also cherished his formative years in the city. The boy grew up to become the legendary Raj Kapoor.

“Painted Memories: Calcutta Connects Raj Kapoor” is a documentary by Jaydip Mukherjee exploring the legendary filmmaker’s formative years and hidden links to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), revealing how his time there shaped him and connected him to Bengali artists like Manna Dey, Hemanta Mukherjee, and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, bridging Calcutta and Bombay cinema through shared roots and collaborations. The film highlights Kapoor’s childhood in the city, his studies at Mitra Institution, and his later bond with fellow Bengali talents who became pillars of the Mumbai film industry.

JAYDIP MUKHERJEE

Jaydip Mukherjee is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, began his cinema journey from the Indian Parallel cinema days in the early 1980’s. Many of films have been screened at the Indian Panorama of IFFI and many other international Film Festivals like Edinburgh, Cinema Peniche (Paris), Stuttgart, Toronto, Miff and KIFF. He is a recipient of UN FAO Award at AGROFILM Bratislava, and a Merit Plaque at Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. His retrospective of films was held at the White Chapel Art Gallery (London), Kennedy Millennium Auditorium (Washington), Art Institute (Chicago) and at Nandan, Kolkata organised by the FILMS DIVISION.

SUBRATA SANYAL (Producer)

Subrata Sanyal, Executive Producer at Essjay Cinebitan, is a film enthusiast with a deep passion for socially and culturally relevant story-telling. His work revolves around promoting impactful documentaries and putting the spotlight on lesser-known topics deserving greater recognition.