Ghosts of the City: Utopia and the City in Bhooter Bhabishyat

This article analyses a recent iconic film of postcolonial Bengali and Indian cinema. Aneek Dutta’s 2012 smash-hit Bhooter Bhabishyat is a fantasy urban comedy that hinges on the punning word ‘bhoot’, which means both the past and ghost in Bengali. I show how the film carries powerful charges of the utopian principle of hope as analysed by Ernst Bloch, which finds expression in Dutta’s critique of neo-liberal predatory property development that dispossesses earlier denizens of the city. I analyse how in Bhooter Bhabishyat the mansion of ghosts becomes an inclusive reservoir of many aspects of Kolkata’s transculturality and utopian spirit and community, articulating hope against the backdrop of a dystopian present. The article draws particular attention to how crucial women’s agency is in resisting such predations of criminal real estate development. I further show how Bhooter Bhabishyat articulates the utopian principle of hope by situating itself firmly in the present of Kolkata, narrativizing elements such as Bengali rock bands and fashion shows, while also paying tribute to the past history and histories of Kolkata, including histories of classic Bengali cinema. The world of the ghosts in this film, the article argues, ties together past, present and future and reinvents them, articulating utopian hope.