The city has a tradition of dramas in the form of jatra (a kind of folk-theatre), theatres and Group Theatres. Mainstream Hindi films are popular, as are films from the Bengali cinema industry, dubbed "Tollywood". Tollygunj in Kolkata is the location of Bengali movie studios. Its long tradition of filmmaking includes acclaimed directors such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Ritwik Ghatak to contemporary directors such as Aparna Sen and Rituparno Ghosh.

Key elements of Kolkata's cuisine include rice and macher jhol (fish curry), with rasagolla,sandesh and mishti doi (sweet yoghurt) as dessert. Bengal's vast repertoire of fish-based dishes includes various hilsa preparations (a favorite among Bengalis). Street foods such as beguni (fried battered eggplant slices), kati roll (flatbread roll with vegetable or chicken, mutton, or egg stuffing), phuchka (deep fried crêpe with tamarind and lentil sauce) and Chinese food from China Town in the eastern parts of the city are quite popular.

Bengali women commonly wear the shari as per tradition and global/western outfits. Among men, western dressing has greater acceptance.

Durga Puja is the most important and the most glamourous event in Kolkata. Other notable festivals include Jagaddhatri Puja, Diwali, Eid, Holi, Christmas, poila boishak (new year), Saraswati puja, Rath Yatra and Poush parbon (harvest festival). Some of the cultural festivals are Kolkata Book Fair, Dover Lane music festival, Kolkata Film Festival and National Theatre Festival.

The city is also noted for its appreciation of Indian classical music as well as Bengali folk music such as baul. In the nineteenth and twentieth century, Bengali literature was modernized in the works of authors such as Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The rich literary tradition set by these authors has been carried forward in the works of Jibanananda Das, Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, Manik Bandopadhyay, Ashapurna Devi, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Buddhadeb Guha, Samaresh Majumdar, Sanjeev Chattopadhyay and Sunil Gangopadhyay among others.

From the early 1990s, there has been an emergence and popularization of new genres of music, including fusions of Baul and Jazz by several Bangla bands, as well as the emergence of what has been called Jeebonmukhi Gaan (a modern genre based on realism) by artists like Kabir Suman, Nachiketa,Anjan Dutta, and bands like Chandrabindoo, Cactus, Lakkhichhara, Fossils and Insomnia.