Film on Chander Pahar

He���s just wrapped up 'Meghe Dhaka Tara', his intense, black-and-white tribute to Ritwiatk Ghak that is slated to do the rounds of the festival circuit. Now, director Kamaleswar Mukherjee is ready to tread a different ��� and more adventurous ��� path with a film adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay���s celebrated novel, 'Chander Pahar'. It���s a toss-up between Dev or Parambrata Chatterjee for the lead role.
The story, which is set in pre-World War I Africa and has thrilling references with man-eating lions, mysterious monsters and raging volcanoes, should provide Kamaleswar with a much larger celluloid canvas. To be produced by Shree Venkatesh Films, the film will be shot entirely in Africa from early next year.
A source close to the unit revealed, ���It���s a hush-hush project as of now. The production house wants a big star to play Shankar, the adventurer protagonist. Dev and Parambrata���s names have come up. Kamaleswar is through with the script and the cast and crew will be locked in a few days.��� The buzz goes that this is Kamaleswar���s dream project. For SVF, Chander Pahar marks the latest in a series of adventure films. While Sandip Ray is shooting Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy, Srijit Mukherjee is ready to start work on the Kakababu adventure, Mishor Rahasya. ���It���s a high-budget film and will have computer graphics that no one has seen before in a Bengali film. The visual extravaganza will be on a par with a Bollywood or Hollywood film. For this very special project, Kamaleswar has a Masai proverb in mind ��� If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space,��� added our source.
Chander Pahar follows Shankar on his adventures in Africa, where the Bengali boy gets a job in the Uganda Railways and stumbles upon the directions to a diamond mine deep in the forests.
Kamaleswar though is tightlipped about the project. ���The project is in a nascent stage and I think it���s too early to talk about it,��� was all he would say. Repeated calls and text messages to Shrikant Mohta, one of the producers of the film, remained unanswered.