Tollygunge is an urban locality in the southern part of Kolkata, West Bengal. This place is connected by rail, road and airways. Tollygunge is famous in modern Kolkata for the Tollywood industry. There are number of movie studios, which are now contributing a lot for Bengali movies and serials.
Location of Tollygunge
Tollygunge is located in the southern tip of Kolkata, just before the South 24 Parganas. Situated in the coastal part of Adi Ganga, it is now becoming a shallow water body.
History of Tollygunge
In the 18th century, Tollygunge, then called "Rasa Pagla", was a jungle with garden houses of the Europeans located here and there. Tollygunge is named after Major William Tolly, who in 1775-1776 started a project to excavate and dredge the Adi Ganga River as a passageway for the people of East Bengal and Assam to Kolkata. He was also granted a license to collect tolls from the passing boats and permitted by the British East India Company to open a "gunge" or market on the eastern bank of the "nullah" which acquired the name Tolly"s Nullah. The waterway was opened to navigation in 1777.
Geography of Tollygunge
Tollygunge is stretched by Eastern Railway South Suburban Line to the north, Lake Gardens and Golf Green in the east, the Pashchim and Purba Putiary in the south and Behala in the West.
Culture of Tollygunge
Tollygunge is famous as this area is the centre of the Bengali film industry from the colonial era, which is known by the nickname "Tollywood". Indrapuri Studio, Movie Ton and Technician Studio are the eminent studios where most of the Bengali films and serials are in production. Prince Ghulam Mohammad built a mosque in Tollygunge in 1830.
Visiting Information of Tollygunge
Tollygunge serves as terminal points of several transport services including the tram, city buses of the Calcutta Tramways company and the metro station. Tollygunge Railway Station is located on the Budge Budge section of the Kolkata Suburban Railway. The Mahanayak Uttam Kumar Metro Station (formerly Tollygunge) had been a terminal station of the Kolkata Metro from 1984-2009. The Calcutta Tramways Company depot in Tollygunge serves as a terminal point for the tram service (which links it to Ballygunge and B.B.D. Bagh) and city buses operated by the same company.