Tollywood roundup: Bengali cinema’s top 10 newsmakers this week

Be it the exciting news of Soumitra Chatterjee and Naseeruddin Shah teaming up for an upcoming film, Satyajit Ray’s Apu returning to the big screen after six decades, the rumours of Nusrat Jahan’s alleged divorce, Anjan Dutt’s next directorial ‘Finally Bhalobasha’ or Raima’s new look in ‘Sitara’; as the week came to an end, there are so many exciting updates from the Bengali industry. In case you missed all these, we present to you Tollywood’s 10 of the most exciting news from this week. Scroll down and enjoy your daily dose of entertainment.

Soumitra Chatterjee and Naseeruddin Shah are all set to share the screen as lawyers in an upcoming film ‘Debotaar Grash’. Directed by Saibal Mitra, it’s an adaptation of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee's novel ‘Inherit the Wind’. While Soumitra will be seen as Basant Kumar and Naseeruddin is set to play a character Anthon. ‘Debotaar Grash’ will be a trilingual film shot in Bengali, Hindi, English and a few sequences in tribal languages. Another versatile actor Kaushik Sen will essay the role of a Delhi-based journalist in this film which is expected to start rolling this summer.

Apu, the lead character in Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy, is set for his big screen return six decades after the last film Apur Sansar released in 1959 which also saw the debut of Soumitra Chatterjee playing Apu. Director Subhrajit Mitra is now making ‘Avijatrik—The Wanerlust of Apu’ based on the concluding part of ‘Aparajito’ by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. The plot will start from where ‘Apur Sansar’ ended. This film, set in the 1940s, will be shot in black-and-white to retain the period feel. The film will have Apu’s close friend Leela who was missing in Ray’s adaptation along with characters like Durga, Aparna, Ranudi and others in a surreal form.

Prasun Gain has become a household name for portraying a wide range of characters in both small and big screen. Now, the versatile actor is all set for his directorial debut with a short film ‘Aar Matro 20 Minutes’. Prasun’s directorial debut is all about two individuals in a relationship but their pursuit of money eventually destroys their love. The narrative also sheds light on the high profile escort service in metro cities and how this dangerous racket poisons the young generation. Sudipta Banerjee, Payel Chakraborty, Raja Datta, Prodip Dhar, Subhamoy Chatterjee, Gargi Roy Chowdhury, Joydeb Dey, Rakesh Mudi, Kalyan Bhowmick, Ujjal Kumar Das and Prasun himself are playing pivotal roles in this short film.

2018 brought huge success for actor Anjan Dutt with ‘Uma’, ‘Ahare Mon’, ‘Byomkesh Gowtro’ and ‘Ek Je Chhilo Raja’ ruling the Bengali box office. Playing a wide range of characters, he stole many a million hearts. However, last year his only directorial ‘Aami Ashbo Phirey’ sunk without a trace at the box office. But 2019 seems to be a promising one for director Anjan. His next directorial ‘Finally Bhalobasha’ will release on February 8 and the first look poster of the film is already here. With a stellar cast including Raima Sen, Anirban Bhattacharya, Arjun Chakrabarty, Sauraseni Maitra, Arindam Sil and Anjan Dutt himself, the relationship drama promises to explore the myriad shades of modern-day love.

As we all wait for the theatrical release of Abir Chatterjee and Paoli dam’s ‘Tritiya Adhyay’ on February 8, here’s a good news for the fans. The romantic thriller directed by Manoj Michigan has made it to the 8th Dada Saheb Phalke International Film Festival. The film earlier had its international premiere at the Bongo Probas Milap 2018 in Dubai. It has already won the Best Screenplay award at the Expressions Film Festival 2018 in Nagpur last month. The two lead characters Kaushik (Abir Chatterjee) and Shreya (Paoli Dam) are childhood lovers who once lost contact with each other. After a long gap, Kaushik, a sports teacher, meets Shreya, a renowned botanist. The narrative highlights the background of their breakup, reunion and future.

Koh-e-Noor is believed to be one of the most coveted and priceless diamonds in the history. Now director Shantanu Basu is all set to decode the mystery behind this bloody, brilliant diamond and you would get to know a whole new set of historical facts about Kohinoor and its connection with Kolkata! Yes, you heard it right. According to the makers, that’s the USP of this historical thriller titled ‘Kolkatay Kohinoor’. Soumitra Chatterjee, playing a noted historian Satyaki Basu and Sabyasachi Chakraborty as his assistant Anindya, makes this diamond hunt even more interesting. It’s like two Feluda’s sharpen their magajastro. The cast also includes Barun Chanda, Indrani Dutta, Debdut Ghosh and many others.

She always loves to break her image in each of her big screen appearance. That’s why even after a career spanning almost 20 years Raima Sen hasn’t been typecast. The Bong diva has stunned the audience with a wide range of characters over the years. But this time the pretty actress will be seen in a completely different role than the ones she has portrayed thus far. Her character in Ashish Roy’s upcoming ‘Sitara’ will bring back the memories of Kareena Kapoor’s ‘Chameli’ look! After all she’s the Sitara here. Based on Abul Bashar’s popular novel Bhorer Prosuti, it tells the story of a helpless village girl who is dragged into the prostitution.

Srabanti Chatterjee and Krishan Vraj, who got married in 2016, have now officially ended their marriage. They were living separately since 2017. Srabanti and Krishan had earlier filed a mutual divorce petition before the Alipore district court. On Tuesday, Justice Rabindranath Samanta eventually passed the order as their marriage was dissolved in presence of both sides after the hearing for the case prolonged for almost a year. For those who are unaware, it’s Srabanti’s second marriage. The pretty actress and director Rajib Biswas had put an end to their 13-year marriage in 2016 after getting married in 2003.

Popular Malayalam actor Mohanlal is set for his Bengali debut. Ashish Roy is ready to adapt the best-selling novel ‘Phul Bou’ of Bangladeshi writer Abul Bashar and Mohanlal will play the imam’s role here. Mohanlal has already given his green signal but who will play the character of ‘Phul Bou’ is yet to be decided. However, Ashish says they are in talks with Radhika Apte for the titular role. If the popular actor signs on the dotted line the rest of casting will be decided.

Nusrat Jahan never accepted her relationship or marriage with Victor Ghosh. While the rumors of her being married to Victor for the last five years was quite strong in the Bengali industry, the pretty actress shunned it until now when a latest rumour has once again reignited the grape vine. Speculation is rife Nusrat officially got the divorce from Victor only last week. But she reportedly had to pay a huge sum for this divorce as her ex-husband demanded a large amount. However, Nusrat has once again denied the rumours of his alleged marriage and the divorce. She has reacted strongly over the latest rumours about her personal life and has allegedly insisted she or even her family doesn’t care what people are saying.