Tollywood roundup: First look of ‘Feluda Pherot’ to ‘Bob Biswas’ shoot in Kolkata, here’s what made headlines this week

Tollywood enjoyed quite some action this week. If you have missed the exciting news, gossips or latest developments that have rocked Bengali cinema, here is a weekly roundup for you. Take a look:

Tota Roy Chowdhury is the newest entrant in the Bengali detective club as he will soon be seen as the iconic sleuth Feluda is Srijit Mukherji’s upcoming project ‘Feluda Pherot’. It will be based on the iconic Bong detective and there will be two popular stories, ‘Chhinomostar Obhishaap’ and ‘Joto Kando Kathmandute’. To double up the excitement among his fans, Srijit has now shared the first look of the trio and it looks like an all-win situation. While Tota as Feluda looks fresh and smart and Kalpan Mitra as Topesh seems to be the young learner. The most interesting this is Lalmohan Ganguly’s appearance and Anirban Chakraborty as the iconic character looks quite intelligent.

Way back in 2010, Sujoy Ghosh had shot his film ‘Kahaani’ in and around Kolkata and also covered Durga Puja that took place at that time. The Vidya Balan-starrer hit the theatres in 2012 and beside the huge appreciation it received, what also floored the critics and cine buffs alike is the story of an oddball assassin Bob Biswas. Now a film on Bob Biswas is being made under the direction of Sujoy Ghosh’s elder daughter, Diya Annapurna Ghosh who’s also a filmmaker. What’s interesting is Kolkata continues to remain an integral part of this spin-off. If all goes according to plan, camera will start rolling for the upcoming thriller in Kolkata from January 20. What’s more interesting is a number of actors from Tollywood will be seen playing key roles in the film.

2019 has been good for the Tollywood superstar. His three films ‘Jyeshthoputro’, ‘Gumnaami’ and the latest ‘Robibaar’ have been lapped up by the audience getting appreciation from all corners. So, what’s his plan for 2020? The celebrated actor says it’s already sorted with three big films lined up. “2020 is more or less sorted. I will be seen in a film by Kaushik Ganguly, then there is a film in the Kakababu series with Srijit Mukherji, and another one with Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy, which is a spin-off from their superhit film, Haami. I will also be shooting for a Hindi web series by Vikramaditya Motwane, based on true stories, which will be shot in Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai, but I can’t tell anything further,” reveals the Tollywood superstar.

Actress Deboliana Dutta is all geared up for her Hindi debut. Titled ‘Rajnandini’, the film follows a treasure hunter, retired archaeology professor Fernandez, who leads two groups of college students in an excursion to Neel Haveli. While Sudhir Dutta has composed the music of this film, Aritra Dasgupta, Rik Basu, Rakhi Dutta, Shovan Ganguly, Sujoy Bhowmik and others have lent their voices to the songs. Beside Debolina Dutta, the cast of the film includes Sudesh Berry, Biswajit Chakraborty, Sudhir Dutta, Shantana Basu, Sneha and others.

2020 will start with another interesting film where we would get to see Parambrata Chattopadhyay as a crime reporter. Titled ‘Shokuner Lov’, the upcoming thriller directed by Anindya Bikas Datta sees a crime reporter risking his life to solve a 16-year-old murder. Can he overcome the challenges on the way? What will the outcome be? The cast of the film is also an ensemble one. While Param will be seen as a crime reporter, Joy Sengupta plays a police officer. ‘Ghawre Bairey Aaj’ fame Tuhina Das plays the female lead. ‘Shokuner Lov’ will hit the theatres in February.

Ritabhari Chakraborty’s next ‘Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti’ which marks the directorial debut of Aritra Mukherjee sees the talented actress opposite Soham Majumder. The social drama has grabbed headlines ever since it was announced and has already locked its release date. If all goes according to plan, ‘Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti’ will hit the big screens on Women’s Day 2020. The film questions why a woman can’t get into the kitchen or thakur ghor when she is having her periods. There are so many age-old myths we are following in this patriarchal society and the film opens the discussion among the audience centering on those beliefs.

After the big screen debut with ‘Professor Shonku O El Dorado’, we now get to see a calendar on Satyajit Ray's iconic character Shonku. This calendar titled 'The Global Footprints of Professor Shonku' – along with short descriptions and Satyajit Ray's own illustrations, explores Professor Shonku's adventures not only in his hometown Giridih but also around the world like the Amazon rainforests, Congo, Egypt, Tibet, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Bolivia, Chile, the Sahara and Taklamakan deserts, and even some mysterious, imaginary islands. The calendar is not only a collector's item but also has illustrations by Satyajit Ray, curated by Sandip and designed by Pinaki De.