As Calcutta has slowly ebbed away, so has its once vivid portrayal in films

The ubiquitous staircase has captivated the imagination of both mainstream and avant-garde filmmakers for generations and they have used it as a site to either articulate a play of passion or to accentuate the expression of power, tension and drama between characters differentiated by gender, ranks and hierarchy.

Close analyses of Adoor’s exquisitely crafted films has at its centre the filmmaker’s figure of the ‘outsider’