Tollywood roundup: Santu Mukhopadhyay passes away, coronavirus affecting stars’ travel plans; 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:

Casting Anirban Bhattacharya in his next ‘Dracula Sir’ has been a delightful experience for Debaloy Bhattacharya as he says Anirban who was last seen in ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ is a treat for any director. ‘Dracula Sir’ also marks Mimi Chakraborty’s return to films after joining politics, so there’s definitely an added interest. After teasing the fans with tidbits about the film for months, the official poster is finally out and calling fabulous will be an understatement. The film will release on May 1.

At some point in our childhood, we went outside with our friends to play together for the last time and we never knew it. Srimanta Sengupta’s film ‘Abaar Bochhor Kuri Pore’ dives into the same pool of emotion. It’s about a reunion of school friends who get lost in their own turmoil and monotony of their adult life and then decide to revisit their golden days after 20 long years. The slice of a life drama has a cast that’s no short of a galaxy of stars. It includes acting powerhouses Abir Chatterjee, Arpita Chatterjee, Paran Bandyopadhyay, Tanusree Chakravorty, Swagata Basu, Abhishek Banerjee, Sumanta Mukhopadhyay and Anirban Bhattacharyya among others.

Arindam Sil’s next, ‘Mahananda’, will be based on the life and work of Mahasweta Devi. The film will see Gargee RoyChowdhury in the titular role of Mahananda. The cast also includes Ishaa Saha and Gaurav Chakrabarty in pivotal roles. Bickram Ghosh will compose the music for the film. The script has been jointly developed by Subhendu Dasmunshi and Arindam. While Ishaa will be seen as Mahalaya, who carries forward the legacy of Mahananda, Gaurav will play a character of an activist.

When Dev shared the poster of his first Bangladeshi film ‘Commando’ it literally left the social media into a tizzy with fans going gaga over his much-anticipated film. The Tolly superstar has already started shooting for the action flick. He is currently busy with several projects both as an actor and producer – ‘Golondaaz’, ‘Tonic’, ‘Hobu Chandra Raja Gobu Chandra Mantri’ and ‘Kishmish’ to name a few. The Tollywood hunk who will be seen opposite Bangladeshi actress Jahara Mitu will start the Bangladesh schedule of ‘Commando’ on March 24.

Ankush and his girlfriend Oindrila Sen were over the moon when they started making plans for their dream Paris and Switzerland trip three months ago. But the novel coronavirus outbreak and the global panic shattered their dream vacation. The power couple was supposed to leave on March 14, but had to cancel the long-awaited trip because of the global epidemic. Ankush and Oindrila would have returned to India on April 2.

He was suffering from carcinoma for long and was even admitted to hospital on February 4. Yet when the news of veteran actor Santu Mukhopadhyay’s sad demise came it left the entire Tolly town in shock. The veteran Bengali actor, known for his cultured performances in a number of films and television serials, passed away following a long illness at his south Kolkata residence on March 11 evening. Mukhopadhay, 69, a widower, left behind his two daughters - one of them renowned actress Swastika.

After betrayal from her husband and then her close childhood friend which leads to monotony and depression, Anurupa decides to end her life. She finds an unexpected visitor the day after. Does she regret her decision? Does she get a second chance? The turn of events in the short film ‘Palok’ narrating a hope story gives all the answers. The short, directed by Ratool Mukherjee, stars popular actors Rupanjana Mitra and Saswata Chatterjee and spreads a message of positivity among all those people who get victimized day to day and suffer from depression. Debojyoti Mishra has composed the music.

Ditipriya Roy, the popular Bengali TV actress, is set for her debut in Bollywood with ‘Bob Biswas’ being directed by Diya Annapurna Ghosh and stars Abhishek Bachchan in the titular role. The young actress is also playing a key role in Subhrajit Mitra’s upcoming period drama ‘Avijatrik’ where she will be seen as Apu’s wife, Aparna. ‘Bob Biswas’ is based on Saswata Chatterjee’s iconic character of a serial killer in Sujoy Ghosh’s 2012 blockbuster ‘Kahaani’. The casting of Abhishek Bachchan in the film instead of Saswata Chatterjee, had attracted severe criticism earlier.