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

Whether the shocking sexual harassment allegation against Pavel, the casting details of Tenida film, Arindam Sil’s ‘Khela Jokhon’ being deferred, Ambarish Bhattacharya playing a negative role for the first time to Parambrata’s plan to Kabir Suman recording for Aniket Chattopadhyay’s next; it was a week full of rumours and exciting news from the Tollywood industry. Here is a quick look at Bengali cinema's some of the most exciting news from this week.

We already know Kanchan Mullick will play Tenida in Sayantan Ghosal’s upcoming comedy caper based on the iconic literary figure. But who will play his merry band of goons - Habul, Pyala and Kyabla? According to industry sources, Soumendu Bhattacharya who played a key role in Anjan Dutt’s Byomkesh film will be seen as Pyala. Gaurav Chakrabarty will play Kyabla and talented theatre actor Sourav Saha as Habul. Gaurav’s father veteran actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty will play the role of scientist Saatkori Santra and Gaurav’s wife Ridhima will take on the role of the scientist’s daughter. Sayantan has already started shooting for the film and it’s based on based on the story ‘Jhau Bungalow Rahashya’ written by Narayan Gangopadhyay.

Just like his acting or directorial or the causes he loves to associate himself with, Rahul Bose loves to choose his words very carefully. As a matter of fact, acting has saw him flourishing in films from different languages – be it Bengali, Kannada, Tamil or Malayalam. However, most of his regional films have been in Bengali. Looking back at his innings as an actor, the versatile actor reveals Aparna Sen’s ‘The Japanese Wife’, in which he was seen as a rural Bengal school teacher who marries his Japanese pen friend, is so far his best work. “I had to travel a long distance to portray Snehmoy Chatterjee,” he says. “And Aparna Sen is still one of the few persons who have actually managed to direct me. Zoya Akhtar did the same in ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’. I am also lucky to collaborate with talented directors like Sudhir Mishra, Santosh Sivan, Buddhadev Dasgupta and Govind Nihlani,” Rahul added.

It was Iman Chakraborty’s worst nightmare! On Monday the national award winning singer alleged she was recently harassed by the organisers of a music concert at Krishnanagar in Nadia. However, the organizers denied the charge. Iman claimed in a live post on Facebook when she finished her solo concert at around 10 pm on Sunday, a man claiming to be the local municipality staff, stopped her car from leaving the venue as he was dissatisfied with the fewer number of songs Iman sang at the event. The renowned singer added some locals then forced the organisers to open the gate.

In his first Bengali directorial Soumik Sen sheds light on the controversy surrounding Birendra Krishna Bhadra, Uttam Kumar and our very own Mahalaya. Giving a peek into the casting decisions Soumik Sen also explained why how Jisshu Sengupta and Subhasish Mukhopadhyay came on board. “When making a biopic you have to keep in mind two things; the physical similarity and acting. I have chosen acting over physical similarity. I have cast Jisshu because I needed a star to play a star. I know nobody can replace Uttam Kumar and Jisshu not looks like Uttam Kumar as well but he has the star factor, the appearance and attitude I needed. And ever since I watched Harbert I knew how great an actor is Subhasish da,” said Soumik.

Aniket Chattopadhyay has started working on his next ‘Hobu Chandra Raja Gobu Chandra Mantri’s music. Kabir Suman who will be composing the music for this film recently had a session with the director to finalize the tracks. The recording started yesterday at a city studio where Kbir Suman was also present as he recorded for a kheyal. The film, bankrolled by Dev’s home production, is inspired by two stories from Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder’s book Dadamashayer Thale – ‘Hobu Chandra Raja’ and ‘Sarkar’er Chhele’. It’s in pre-production stage right now and will go on floors by mid-February.

Young director Pavel whose latest release ‘Rosogolla’ received love all around last December is the latest film personality to be accused of sexual harassment and misconduct. Bengali actress Anurupa Chakroborty in a latest Facebook post accused Pavel of hugging and kissing her without consent. According to the actress, this happened in 2016. However, the director has refused to make any comment on this allegation against him. Anurupa who was recently seen in Birsa Dasgupta’s ‘Crisscross’ and currently working with independent filmmaker Aneek Chaudhuri in his next ‘Cactus’ took to her Facebook handle to post a long statement about the incident.

Director Suman Ghosh has wrapped up shooting for his first hindi film ‘Aadhaar’. ‘Mukkabaaz’ fame Vineet Kumar Singh essays the lead in the film and Suman Ghosh is all praise for the versatile actor. The Bengali director took to his social media account to praise Vineet: “This man takes the art of acting to a spiritual level. Astounded by the sincerity, dedication and passion which he brings to a character. From Uttar Pradesh ka Mike Tyson to Jharkhand ka Aadhaar babu. Most importantly such a lovely human being. @ItsVineetSingh #Aadhaar.” As the title suggests, ‘Aadhaar’ is based on the government’s Aadhaar card program.

Arindam Sil’s upcoming thriller, tentatively titled ‘Khela Jakhon’ has been deferred. The film is being produced by SVF and the co-owner of the production house Srikanth Mohta was recently arrested by CBI which led to a number of SVF projects being pushed back. However, Arindam is hopeful he can start shooting for the film soon. Recently the casting change of ‘Khela Jakhon’ came with a huge surprise. Instead of Bollywood actress Sayani Gupta, Mimi Chakraborty was chosen for the female lead Urmi. Abir Chatterjee who was supposed to play Urmi’s husband reportedly turned down the role and it was given to Anirban Bhattacharya. Tanushree Chakraborty too has been roped in to play a key role in the thriller.

In ‘Baccha Shoshur’ Ambarish Bhattacharya will be seen in an out and out negative character for the first time in his character. Although the popular actor played a negative character in ‘Jio Pagla’ but that had a comic shade in it. And Ambarish is super excited to take up a completely negative role for the first time. Starring Jeet, Koushani Mukherjee and Chiranjeet Chakraborty in the lead, ‘Baccha Shoshur’ has released this Friday, February 8. With his hands full of projects, the popular actor will next be seen in films like ‘Samsara’, ‘Doctor Babu’ and ‘The Parcel’.

Konkona Sensharma essays the role of a transsexual in ‘A Monsoon Date’. Directed by Tanuja Chandra and written by Gazal Dhaliwal, the short film narrates a touching story of a woman who is about to reveal her deepest secret to her lover. ‘A Monsoon Date’ starts with an eventful, rainy evening when a young woman is on her way to meet her first date. On the road, she comes across some bittersweet moments involving a series of strangers and a storm brews inside her. Today, she has finally decided to reveal a heart-breaking truth about her past to the young man. However, she is well aware that this truth is not possible for anybody to digest. And yet, she hopes that the man would understand her situation. With her heart pounding just like the torrential rain around her, she holds on to the unreasonable hope.