Soumitra-Naseeruddin’s ‘Debotaar Grash’ to be screened at Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart

In Saibal Mitra’s ‘Debotaar Grash’ (A Holy Conspiracy), two powerhouse performers Soumitra Chattopadhyay and Naseeruddin Shah will share the screen space for the first time. The film is an adaptation of the novel ‘Inherit the Wind’ by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee. The film which also stars Biplab Dasgupta, Amrita Chattopadhyay and Kaushik Sen in pivotal roles has recently been selected for screening at the prestigious Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart 2020 that starts from July 15.
The story is set against the backdrop of Hillolganj, a township, where most of the inhabitants are from the adivasi community and are Christians by religion. There, Kunal Joseph, a science professor, doesn’t want to teach The Genesis of the Bible ahead of science. But it’s an unwritten rule at the college to teach The Genesis which Kunal refuses because Bible is beyond his jurisdiction. The management suspends Kunal eventually. Following this, communal tension starts in the area since Kunal is a Hindu and is jailed for offending the Christians.
Once Kunal’s misery grabs headlines, all attention turns to Hillolganj. Kunal’s trial begins in Hillolganj court and two noted lawyers — Reverend Basant Kumar Chatterjee and Anthon D’Souza — contest in favour and against him.
Soumitra plays Basant Kumar, while Naseeruddin Shah will be seen as Anthon in the film. Kaushik Sen plays a Delhi-based Journalist. It’s a trilingual film where the characters will speak Bengali, Hindi, English, apart from Adivasi languages.