While in 2011 the opening and closing ceremonies were shifted to Netaji Indoor Stadium, Nandan remains the main centre for the festival.

The foundation stone of Nandan was laid by former Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu in 1980[3] and it was inaugurated by film-maker Satyajit Ray on 2 September 1985.

[3] After being defeated at the 2011 assembly elections of West Bengal by the Trinamool congress candidate Manish Gupta, Bhattacharjee stopped coming to Nandan.

According to a report published in The Telegraph in July 2011, two months after West Bengal's assembly elections, Bhattacharjee almost stopped visiting his favourite evening spot.

[8] On the afternoon of 11 November 2007, actors, artists and writers of West Bengal were demonstrating at a protest in Cathedral Road against the Nandigram violence in which at least 14 people died.

They were released after five hours after a meeting between deputy commissioner (headquarters) Vineet Goyel and a group of protesters led by director Aparna Sen, Gautam Ghose and Bengali poet Sankha Ghosh.

In 2011, Mamata Banerjee, after becoming the Chief Minister of West Bengal, shifted the ceremony from Nandan to the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

[6] One Day from a Hangman's Life directed by Joshy Joseph was banned there after getting instruction from the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

"[6] In May 2013, the theatre refused to screen the Bengali film Kagojer Nouka directed by Partha Sarathi Jowardar.

Jowardar told to media that they sent the movie to Nandan authority for preview but he thought he did not even see the film before barring it.