Weekend roundup: Bengali films and celebs who made headlines this week

Whether it’s Aparna Sen explaining why ‘Gully Boy’ was chosen as India’s Oscar entry, Arjun replacing Jisshu in an upcoming love story, Ritabhari in a social satire, or Dev revealing his next projects; 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 this week.

Ritabhari Chakraborty will play the female lead in debutant director Aritra Mukherjee’s film ‘Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti’ opposite Soham Majumder. The film bankrolled by Windows Production talks about breaking taboos. As soon as the first look poster was dropped on social media it created a lot of buzz. It shows the protagonist (Ritabhari) holding all things related to idol worship in one hand and in the other hand, she is holding a sanitary pad, a painkiller, a hot water bag and other things that a girl needs during her periods. It is a fun movie and not at all preachy. The film questions why a woman can’t get into the kitchen or thakur ghor when she is having her periods.

Aparna Sen headed the committee which chose ‘Gully Boy’ as India’s entry in the foreign language Oscar Category. A lot has been spoken about ‘Gully Boy’s surprise entry. While many have appreciated the decision, some have also criticized it. However, Aparna Sen has a completely different take on the selection procedure.

“Our job was to find a film that was of excellent artistic merit and at the same time something that was a fit for the Academy. Gully Boy is an extremely well-made film in all departments. The photography was brilliant, the sound was excellent, the acting was marvellous, the production design was wonderful, the colour palette was very good, the music was excellent, the dialogue was extremely well-written. The women characters were very strong and impactful. So it was comparable to the best in terms of its technical quality,” explained Aparna Sen.

Arjunn Dutta has wrapped up the shoot of his next venture with an ensemble cast. His next offering, titled ‘Guldasta’, tells the story of three women namely Srirupa, Dolly and Renu, who are connected in some way. Portraying these characters are three of the most reliable character artists in Tollywood - Swastika Mukherjee, Arpita Chatterjee and Debjani Chatterjee. The cast and crew enjoyed a gala wrap up party from the makers Roop Production & Entertainment. Incidentally ‘Guldasta’ is its first venture. Swastika Mukherjee, Arpita Chatterjee, Debjani Chatterjee, Anubhav Kanjilal, Anuradha Mukherjee, Ishaan Mazumder all were present at the party.

Aparna Sen’s ‘Ghawre Baire Aaj’ is the modern day adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s iconic novel Ghare Baire. Starring Anirban Bhattacharya, Jisshu Sengupta and Tuhina Das in the lead and Anjan Dutt and Rwitobroto Mukherjee in key roles this film surely triggers nostalgia. While the film hasn’t yet hit the theatres, it has now won its first festival award. Aparna Sen has jointly bagged the Best Director award for the socio-political drama alongside ‘BulBul Can Sing’ director Rima Das at the 10th Jagaran Film Festival held in Mumbai.

While speaking about his upcoming projects Dev reveals he is working on a family drama whose shoot will start in January. There are other projects in the pipeline too. “We have already locked a script from Dev Entertainment Ventures. If all goes according to plan, the film will go the floors in January 2020. It’s a family drama involving three generations. Also, we are reworking the script of the Subhasini Mistry biopic. It’s my dream project, so I don’t want to rush it. Let’s be 100% sure about it. Leenadi and Saibalda (Leena Ganguly and Saibal Banerjee) are working on the script. Also, we have ‘Hobu Chandra Raja Gobu Chandra Montri’,” reveals the Tollywood star whose recent release ‘Password’ is running successfully at theatres.

Initially Jisshu Sengupta was cast as the lead in Pratim D Gupta’s next directorial ‘Love Aaj Kal Porshu’, however, he had to back out because of his busy schedule. Arjun Chakraborty has replaced him who will be paired up with popular television actress Madhumita in the movie. Madhumita was roped in to play the lead after Mimi Chakraborty turned down the script. The film will start rolling from the second week of November.