Bengali actors set to shine in B'wood movie

Kolkata���s kahaani in Bollywood got a boost the day Sujoy Ghosh landed in the city with his unlikely hero ��� Vidya Balan. With the film hitting paydirt, Bollywood���s interest in Kolkata and its little-exposed talents has increased manifold. The latest buzz is that yet another B-Town director is ready to turn his camera on the city and its artistes. Though Raj Kumar Gupta refuses to confirm if he���ll shoot his Emraan Hashmi-Vidya Balan starrer Ghanchakkar in Kolkata, a handful of Bengali actors have already been approached for the film.
The comic thriller that reportedly revolves around a bank robbery, has Emraan as a conman. Vidya plays his ambitious Punjabi wife. A source close to the unit reveals that Arindam Sil and Tanaji Dasgupta might play Emraan���s partners in crime. Rudranil Ghosh, Rajatava Dutta and Kharaj Mukherjee have also been approached. Says Arindam, ���I���m extremely happy about the fact that the focus is on us. I would call it the post-Kahaanisyndrome. Yes, I���ve been approached, but I���ll not be able to divulge the details now.���
Tanaji is pleasantly surprised at the turn of events. ���I don���t know who recommended my name for the auditions. When I met the casting team, I was asked to enact two well-rounded scenes. The character is very funny. Whoever gets selected, will be in for a fulfilling part,��� he says.
Kharaj, who wowed audiences with his Bangali cop act in Kahaani and has already been roped in for Neeraj Pandey���s Special Chabbis, might be part of Ghanchakkar too. ���A few days back, the casting team came down to meet me at my residence. I was told that they were considering me for a few roles, out of which one significant part is that of a pundit,��� he informs.
Rudranil, who received positive feedback for his part in the Naseeruddin Shah-starrer Michael, is also in the running for a role in Ghanchakkar. ���Before Michael, I did Mithun Chakraborty���s Spaghetti 24x7. These days, thanks to YouTube, actors have a wider reach. A director too can see an actor���s works online. I���ve auditioned for Raj Kumar���s film, but I���ve not received any confirmation yet,��� says Rudranil. Rajatava too confirmed that he has been approached for a role.
The director, for his part, is also looking forward to working with actors from Bengal. But he doesn���t think it���s the Kahaani effect. ���I had cast Rajesh Sharma in No One Killed Jessica much before Kahaani happened. I���m in favour of introducing new actors with every film and there���s a huge pool of talent in Bengal. My team is there to hold auditions and once they are back, I���ll be able to lock the cast.���
He shot parts his last film starring Vidya and Rani Mukerji in Kolkata. So is he planning to come down again to shoot in the city in August, when his camera starts rolling? Raj says, ���Certain amount of privacy needs to be maintained and it���s too early to reveal if a part of Ghanchakkar will be shot in Kolkata.���
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