Weekend roundup: Tollywood’s top newsmakers of the week

If you have missed the exciting news, gossip or latest developments that have made headlines in Bengali cinema this week, here is a weekly roundup for you. Take a look:

Rupankar Bagchi couldn’t even imagine that things will become so nasty because of his Facebook live video claiming West Bengal has better vocalists than KK. It created a social media storm hours after KK died following the concert on May 31. Since then Rupankar has been trolled, slammed, brutally criticized by not only netizens but his industry peers as well. The National Award-winning singer even received death threats post KK’s tragic demise as many claimed it was because of his curse KK succumbed to death. Not only Rupankar, even her wife Chaitali has also received death threats since yesterday evening.

Singer KK’s tragic death has left the entire nation in shock. The 53-year-old singer passed away hours after performing at a concert in Kolkata on May 31. The versatile singer, as per reports, felt unwell while he was performing at the concert at Nazrul Mancha. He then went straight to his hotel in Esplanade and collapsed. While noted singer was rushed to a nearby hospital at around 10:30pm, doctors had declared him brought dead. Krishnakumar Kunnath, famously known as KK, delivered superhit songs like 'Pal' and 'Yaaron' which became symbolic to 90’s music among teens. Those songs were heard in school and college farewells and cultural events.

The picture might give you goosebumps and why not? After all, fans are eagerly waiting to see this moment happening in real life. Dev and Rukmini, the cutest couple, getting married in real life! Well, Rukmini decided to tease her fans on Monday sharing two candid pictures in which you can see her getting married to Dev performing the Bengali wedding rituals. The pictures sent social media into a tizzy as fans flooded the comments box with love and heart emojis. People started asking when will we see this happening! To make it clear, the pictures are actually from their latest film ‘Kishmish’ which received an overwhelming response at the box office. Rukmini thanked everyone for making ‘Kishmish’ a hit and reminded her ‘partner-in-crime’ Dev that it’s one month anniversary for the film. She also lovingly called Dev ‘Ladhyeshor’.

Kolkata boy Abhiroop Basu’s short film ‘Gudiya’ is all set for its world premiere in the International Competition at the Oscar Qualifying 46th Odense International Short Film Festival. The short will compete with 123 films selected from 4077 submissions made from over 40 countries of the world in one of the most decorated film festivals of Europe and also the largest in Denmark. According to the director, ‘Gudiya’ is a 9 minute-long Bengali language film shot with an iPhone with a crew of 4 in 8 hours inspired by the rules of the Dogma 95 movement. In the film, on the eve of India’s 73rdRepublic Day, a working class woman’s daily routine goes for a toss when she is called to squeeze in an extra shift at work.

Satyajit Ray’s ‘Seemabaddha’ (1971), a stinging indictment of the corporate rat race, remains one of the iconic filmmaker’s most feted works and it also gave the then debutant Barun Chanda the right start to his acting career. Now, fifty years later, Barun Chanda documents his experience of working in the Ray classic and being directed by the master filmmaker, someone he describes as ‘the man who knew too much’. Speaking about the essence of his book, the veteran actor explains, ‘Satyajit Ray: The Man Who Knew Too Much’ is more than just an account of the making of a film.

With every passing day, we collect memories. Some stay and others get forgotten. Some stay with us till the end of our lives, others don’t even make a mark. Actress Sreelekha Mitra is all set to come up with her first film ‘Ebong Chaad’ and it is made on all those memories of our lives. the trailer of the film recently got released. The story of the film would talk about a typical roof of a Kolkata residential building and memories and conversations connected to it.