Bengali celebrities making headlines in Bollywood

Since its early days, Bollywood has always attracted talent from its regional counterparts. However, as we have seen over the years success in Bollywood is a hard nut to crack, especially when it comes to the acting department. Among a number of well-established names from Bengali cinema that have forayed into Bollywood, here are a few names that have turned heads and made headlines in recent times.

For Jisshu Sengupta, the spell of good run continues this year as well with his supreme act in Kangana Ranaut’s recent release ‘Manikarnika’ where he plays Rani Lakshmi Bai’s husband Gangadhar Rao. While Jishhu Sengupta’s performance as the Bhawal prince in ‘Ek Je Chhilo Raja’ last year has earned him accolades, the versatile actor is also a key part of Mahesh Manjrekar’s upcoming Bollywood film ‘Devidas Thakur’. Apart from Jisshu in a pivotal role, the film reportedly also stars Shruti Hassan, Prateik Babbar and many others. The Manjrekar movie is all about the story of underworld and the prolific actor is set to play the role of Naseeruddin Shah’s elder son.

His flawless acting in ‘Pari’ got appreciation from all corners. Now, Parambrata is doing yet another Hindi film. It’s Seema Pahwa’s directotial debut ‘Pind Daan’. . The Hindi social drama also features a number of popular versatile actors like Vinay Pathak, Vikrant Massey, Manoj Pahwa and Ninand Kamat among others. For those unaware, Seema received rave reviews for her brilliant performances in Bollywood films like Ankhon Dekhi, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Tere Bin Laden. He has one more Bollywood film in the pipeline. Anvita Dutt’s upcoming film will see Param in a pivotal role. Interestingly, this film is bankrolled by Abushka Sharma’s home production.

After Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshi’, Swastika Mukherjee is set for her second Bollywood outing. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra is set to debut as a filmmaker with the Hindi remake of ‘Fault In Our Stars’ and Swastika has been roped in to play a significant role. Swastika is all set to portray the mother of Sanjana Sanghi who received accolades for ‘Fukrey’. It will be interesting to see how the ‘Shah Jahan Regency’ actress pulls of this role.

His last Bollywood film was Anurag Basu’s 2017 hit ‘Jagga Jasoos’. How can we forget Saswata as Bob Biswas, the insurance agent who moonlights as a deadly assassin in Kahaani (2012). The impact of that role, which had only a few minutes of screen time, was sensational—it generated hundreds of internet memes, fan pages on social media. Now, he will play a pivotal role the same Hindi film Sawastika is acting, Mukesh Chhabra’s directorial debut. Here, Saswata will be seen opposite Swastika playing Sanjana Sanghi’s father. The film also has Sushant Singh Rajput in the lead.

Rituparna Sengupta is all set for her comeback to Bollywood. The pretty actress will play the female lead in Hari Viswanath’s film ‘Bansuri’. Noted filmmaker Anurag Kashyap will be seen as Rituparna's husband in the film. Satarupa Sanyal is the creative producer of the film. ‘Bansuri’ will go on floors this month with the first schedule set in McCluskieganj in Jharkhand. The film revolves around a single mother and her child. There’s mystery surrounding her husband’s identity but one day the child comes face to face with his father and what happens next forms the crux of the film. Raghuvir Yadav plays the role of the father-in-law, while Chitrangada Chakraborty will also be seen in a key role. Child artiste Harshil who became popular for Kaushik Ganguly’s national award winning film Bishorjon will essay Rituparna’s son.