In 1717, the East India Company obtained the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement from the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar.

[4] When the Bengal Renaissance started taking roots in 19th century Calcutta, it was initially limited to the predominantly Hindu 'Indian town' stretching north and north-east from the fringes of Burrabazar, with a somewhat later extension to south and south-east of the 'European town' to Bhowanipore, and some decades later to Ballygunge, which was then developing as a suburb.

[6] In the first half of the 20th century, “in the milieu of relative urban prosperity... Calcutta’s rich citizens – those connected with jute, coal, tea, other industries, trade, money-lending and rentier income from urban property – did fabulously well for themselves.” Many of the mansions in Ballygunge, Bhowanipore and Alipore were built by the city's Bengali and the new Marwari elite who wanted to move from the “dirtier sections of north Calcutta to the more fashionable areas in the south”.

[9] Business opportunities brought many Gujaratis to Calcutta about a century back and they opted to stay in the Lansdowne-Chakraberia-Puddapukur belt of Bhowanipore.

The Harish Mukherjee Road area of Bhowanipore and Dunlop (in north Kolkata) were the biggest pockets of Punjabi settlement.

The stretch started with Purna near Jadu Babu's Bazaar and was followed up by Bharati, Indira, Bijoli, Basusree, Kalika, and Ujjwala, right up to the recesses of the Kalighat Temple.

However, due to the lack of patronage and drying up of the Bengali film box office in the mid-90s, and the first decade of the 2000s, most of these halls have been closed down.

Basusree, Indira and Bijoli are still operational, though the condition is not that well of, Bharati, Kalika, and Ujjwala have been demolished to make way for multi-storied buildings that host malls, educational institutes, and marriage halls.