He isn't from Mars, she isn't from Venus. Living in close proximity , they were a galaxy apart. Till, well, rab ne bana di jodi! Raj Chakrabarty and Subhashree Ganguly -the man and his muse -have more in common than what meets the eye. Years back, Raj came to Kolkata from his hometown, Halisahar, with big dreams in his eyes.Subhashree, originally from Burdwan, shared the same ambition.
Both debuted in 2008, as a director and an actor, went through the roller-coaster ride of Tollywood, battled public breakups and then found themselves locked in each other's arms like those fairy lights on Park Street. Come November and, I hear, the two will take the leap of faith. I don't know if they are going to whisper `Chirodini... tumi je amar' into each other's ears, but the two families are already gearing up for the celebrations. Not so long back, Subhashree's family joined Raj's in Halisahar, where our hero -in Nawabi moustache and almost six-packs -went down on his knees to ask for his ladylove's hand in marriage. I heard the families again came together in Subhashree's paternal home in Burdwan, in between breaks from the shoot of Raj's Champ, where a lavish lunch followed talks of their wedding. The duo, serious about each other with one Abhimaan thrown in between, openly address each other as `mummum' and indulge in PDA without a care in the world. While it's still a few months to the wedding, there's a lot cooking between them. Last heard, they are thinking of a 300-item wedding dinner. With such mush, I am already full.
CALL FELU MITTER
It was double the fun this winter. While Sandip Ray clubbed two Feludas and presented it to the audience as Double Feluda, it was more than just good content that got the cinemawalas excited. The film was coming out of the stable of a big production house that has recently entered the Bengal market.Though the film ran to pack houses, the excitement fizzled out post release when some of the unit members complained of not getting their full remuneration. Our bhadralok babu Sandip Ray , known to shy away from moolah matters, couldn't even openly argue his case with the production house and only dreamt of calling Felu Mitter to probe further. I heard the point person from the production house communicating with the Rays had gone on leave, which led to such delay in clearing the dues.
FROM FAB TO FLAB
Jisshu Sengupta is going the Aamir Khan way . The dapper hero openly confesses to being blessed with good genes. He is known to eat to his heart's content and I have never seen him put on an extra kilo. So, when Soumik Sen approached him to play Uttam Kumar in his next film, Mahalaya, the actor didn't know it would be such a monumental task. To resemble the Mahanayak in his middle age, Jisshu has to put on a good 10 kilos and that turned out to be quite something.I heard he is eating more than usual and has so far managed to add only a mild tyre around his tummy . It's an uphill task for Jisshu as he hardly puts on weight. And just when Jisshu reaches his goal, he will have to shed the extra pounds within a month as lined up next is the fitness challenge called Byomkesh Bakshi.
ALSO HEARD
I haven't seen Sujoy Ghosh in a while, but I heard he had grown a choti (tiki in Bengali) in between.When someone asked him about it, the director, known for his sharp wit, said, “Amar bou bolechhe amar tiki ti o dekhte payena (My wife complains that she can't even see my tiki)“. The busybee, who can't spare time for home, which is in faraway London, grew a tiki and dedicated it to wifey Baishali. How I love their kahaani!