Now, it’s Meghe Dhaka Tara’s turn for a tele remake

it’s back to the classics in tinsel town. if sanjay leela bhansali is recreating the classic frames of devadas, so is goutam ghose with abar aranyer dinratri, a takeoff on satyajit ray’s aranyer dinratri. and now ritwik ghatak’s black and white magnum opus, meghe dhaka tara, is to be remade into a tele-film! shibu sanyal — who has directed this shaktipada rajguru bestseller for years on stage with veteran actress sabitri chattopadhyay playing nita — will be making his debut on screen with this tele-film. “who am i to dream of remaking a ghatak classic? but since i have done more than 131 productions of meghe dhaka tara on stage, and people seem to be liking tele-films these days, i thought i could make one,� said sanyal. the film will be shot soon in barrackpore. although a number of channels have approached sanyal, he has not yet decided on any of them. for me, this project is more of a challenge because we are experimenting with the idea of doing the tele-film in an opera style. there will be lots of classical ragas along with rabindrasangeet,� said sanyal. interestingly, nita, played by supriya devi in the ghatak film, will be played by television actress rita kayral. “i know i can never even come one inch close to supriya devi in terms of acting but i can say i am working very hard to perfect my role. i will try my level best to do justice to nita,� she said. kayral’s husband, sanjeev dasgupta, will be playing nita’s elder brother in the tele-serial. anil chatterjee had played this role in the ghatak masterpiece. sanyal has roped in most of his actors from the stage like pushpita banerjee, chhanda chatterjee and mrinal ghosh. supriya devi said, “i am very hurt. without underestimating sanyal, i must say that he is audacious enough to make a telefilm based on ghatak’s classic. i was 22 when i played the character of nita. i remember when grihadaha was made into a serial with moon moon sen and ranjit mallick in the lead, it was an utter disaster. i have this gut feeling that this telefilm will not do well.� call it old wine in new bottles, remakes or a fresh look at classical frames, tollywood is in a nostalgic frame of mind.