Epar-Opar Bangla film collabs suffer a jolt as violence puts promotions, dubbing on hold

KOLKATA: A little more than a week ago, renowned Bangladeshi actor Chanchal Chowdhury started promoting his forthcoming Indian film — Srijit Mukherji’s highly-anticipated ‘Padatik’ — on various social media platforms. The cinematic venture – an homage to legendary director Mrinal Sen with Chowdhury portraying the iconic filmmaker – is slated to release simultaneously in both nations on Aug 15. However, given the current turbulent situation in Bangladesh, the prospects of the film’s promotional activities have now become ambiguous. For film-makers who have been collaborating with Bangladeshi stars in recent times, the circumstances are somewhat precarious with a few of them having to stall their dubbing process.

‘Padatik’ producer Firdausul Hasan told TOI that his Bangladeshi distributors are in a wait-and-watch mode now. “If the situation doesn’t improve, we will have to think of push back the Bangladeshi release to a later date. But that is not something we want to do.”

Mukherji’s wife, actress Rafiath Rashid Mithila, and daughter Ayra, are currently in Bangladesh. On a personal level, there is stress since he hasn’t been able to connect with them in the past two days. The other issue is the promotion of his forthcoming movie. “We can’t do any online promotions now since there will be no reach. Luckily, our promotional plans are supposed to begin from July 25. We will be affected if the situation doesn’t improve after July 25,” Mukherji said.

Loss of a single day’s promotion for a Bengali film like ‘Padatik’, which has a box office clash with Amar Kaushik-helmed horror comedy ‘Stree 2’ and John Abraham-starrer ‘Vedaa’, can be a big setback.

At least two film-makers from Kolkata are facing issues with dubbing. Director Anik Dutta’s ‘Joto Kando Kolkatatei’ has Bangladeshi star Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed. “Dubbing is yet to start in full swing. Under the current circumstances, there is a slight apprehension about travelling from Bangladesh to India. We too are wondering if she will get a visa. I will be having a word with my producer next week to find out what we will be doing,” Dutta told TOI.

It is a similar problem for Pratim D Gupta who has Bangladeshi star Ziaul Faruq Apurba in his next film titled ‘Chalchitra’. Originally planned for a Puja release, the film is still not ready. Dubbing with Apurba was supposed to be done in Kolkata during Aug. “This is not the perfect climate to ask an actor to come from Dhaka and dub for a film. It can’t be a priority for a sensitive human being,” the director said.

Director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury is among the privileged few to have finished the filming. His new film ‘Dear Maa’ features Bangladeshi actor Jaya Ahsaan. “I shudder to think of the consequences had we scheduled the shooting during this tumultuous period. We would have been compelled to postpone the filming indefinitely. Fortuitously, the movie is currently being edited by Arghyakamal Mitra,” Roy Chowdhury


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