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Bengalis love to celebrate their language, their culture, their politics, their fierce attachment to a city that has been famously dying for more than a century. They resent with equal ferocity the reflex stereotyping that labels any civic dysfunction anywhere in the world 'another Calcutta.'

My parents' relationship with Kolkata is so strong. Growing up, the absence of Kolkata was always present in our lives.

Kolkata is a musical city. What I like about people here is the lack of diplomacy. Some of the best Indian classical musicians belong to this place. Kolkatans do not go by fashion, but by passion.

Kolkata is a great city, has great food and great people. We had some problems finding the kind of old buildings we were looking for, and even handling the crowds, but on the whole it was fun shooting there.

I lived in Calcutta for five months in 1999. While I was there, I read many journals, diaries, collections of letters and histories.

'Calcutta is a pot of honey' means that in the first half of the nineteenth century, before the society became truly Victorian in feeling and tone, Bengal was a place to make money. The governor-generals returned to England rich men. It was a bountiful, lush, prosperous, easy place to make a fortune - in coal, in jute, and particularly cloth.

Chennai is such a beautiful place to perform in. The city is lovely, and the people, even more so.

Members of India's diaspora, living in distant lands of the world, my good wishes to all of you. You may be far away from India, but you are always close to our hearts.

I'm not just saying this, but I love everything about India.

I was very happy in Bombay. I was good at school. There was no reason to change anything. I suppose it must have been some spirit of adventure, of wanting to see the world.