Tollywood roundup: Bengali films that made headlines last week

Be it the heartfelt music of 'Uma', the release date announcement of ‘Ahare Mon’, rumours surrounding the star cast of ‘Hoichoi Unlimited’ or the new film on Satyajit Ray’s famous 'Goopy Bagha'; it was a week full of rumours and exciting news from the Tollywood industry. Here is a look at Bengali cinema's 10 of the most exciting stories from last week.

Orpheus Mukhoti’s ‘Akashi Pullover’ has won three awards at the Chile International Film Festival. The Bengali drama has grabbed the awards in ‘Best Drama Feature’, ‘Best Art Direction in Feature Film’ and ‘Best Production Design in Feature Film’ categories. Veteran actress Aloknanda Roy plays the central character in this film along with Samadarshi Dutta, Rupa Bhattacharya in key roles.

While shooting for ‘Uma’, Jisshu Sengupta had to deal with a difficult time on the sets. The popular actor, during a recent interview, reportedly revealed watching his own daughter Sara playing a terminally ill child wasn't easy for a father. Not only Jisshu, even co-actors Anjan Dutt, Srabanti, Sayantika, Anirban Bhattacharya too reportedly felt a tremendous emotional pang while playing their part. ‘Uma’ narrates an emotional story of a little girl (Sara Sengupta) suffering from a terminal disease. She wants to visit Kolkata, for the last time, to witness Durga Puja in autumn.

Pratim D Gupta's upcoming romantic drama ‘Ahare Mon’ revolves around a group of people and how their hearts beat in different ways. Seven main characters and their unconventional love sagas build the crux of this film. It’s touted to be Pratim’s most ambitious project so far. The extremely talented director recently took to Twitter to announce the release date of his film and the D-Day is set for June 22, 2018. ‘Ahare Mon’ comes with a stellar cast that includes Anjan Dutt, Ritwick Chakraborty, Paoli Dam, Adil Hussain, Parno Mittra, Mamata Shankar and others. Just like their unique stories, their characters too have different layers.

Actress Mimi Chakraborty, who was supposed to play the wife of Dev, backed out from ‘Hoichoi Unlimited’ due to some unknown reasons. Koushani Mukherjee has been roped in to replace her. Now rumour has it that Priyanka Sarkar won't be a part of this rom-com and talented actress Roja will reportedly replace her. The model turned actress was last seen in ‘Cockpit’. The comedy flick will release during Puja this year and a large portion of the film will be shot in Uzbekistan.

‘Bishorjon’ earned rave reviews after release and it even won the national award last year but the unique story of Padma and Nasir Ali hasn’t ended yet. Director Kaushik Ganguly is ready to direct the sequel of the award-winning romantic drama. Titled as ‘Bijaya’, it will start from where ‘Bishorjon’ ended and will take the story forward. Kaushik Ganguly himself will reprieve the role of Ganesh Mondol in ‘Bijaya’, while Abir Chatterjee and Jaya Ahsan will play Nasir and Padma once again. The mahurat of the same took place on Tuesday in the presence of Abir, Jaya Ahsan, Kaushik Ganguly and other cast and crews.

The huge success of ‘Macher Jhol’ has convinced Pratim D. Gupta to repeat Mamata Shankar in ‘Ahare Mon’ also. We have seen Mamata Shankar in a serious role as Ritwick Chakraborty’s mother in ‘Macher Jhol’, but in this film, the veteran actress will be seen in a much lighter role and the actress is excited to work with the renowned director once again. Mamata Shankar’s character seems to discover some unconventional feelings with her acquaintance played by Anjan Dutt in this upcoming film.

Satyajit Ray immortalised the two iconic characters on screen with his ‘Goopy Bagha' trilogy. Now the next generation of Goopy and Bagha is all set to appear on the celluloid. Tollywood superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee's home production has just announced a yet to be titled movie which will bring the famous characters back. Prosenjit reportedly discussed the story of this ambitious project with Satyajit Ray’s son Sandip Ray before making the big announcement. The shooting will start from next year.

After the huge success of ‘Drishtikone’, director Kaushik Ganguly and Tollywood superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee are all set to amaze the audience with upcoming ‘Kishore Kumar Junior’ which tells the story of a man building his career and identity by singing Kishore Kumar hits on stage shows. That's not all you can expect from this celebrated pair. Rumour has it Kaushik Ganguly is planning to make another film with Prosenjit. If all goes according to plan, the shoot will reportedly start next year. Kaushik's assistant Chandrashish Roy will also make a film under Prosenjit's home production.

The gripping and thrilling teaser of 'Biday Byomkesh' is finally out. Directed by Debaloy Bhattacharya, it’s a spin-off of the famous Byomkesh series. The film starts when an elderly Byomkesh comes back to solve a mystery to save his own son. Abir Chatterjee is all set to play the octogenarian Byomkesh Bakshi and his grandson in the film. According to the narrative, Satyabati has died before the incident happens. However, Sohini Sarkar will be seen in a pivotal role in the film.

If you are a Bengali movie-buff, you can’t forget her beautiful presence in ‘Antony Firingee’ opposite Uttam Kumar and ‘Teen Bhubaner Pare’ where she shared screen space with Soumitra Chatterjee. The veteran actress is making a comeback in Bengali cinema with Parambrata Chatterjee’s ‘Shonar Pahar’ where Soumitra Chatterjee too plays a key role. Speaking about him, Tanuja says that the veteran actor is still her good friend and they speak to each other occasionally. So, it was spontaneous when the pair was shooting for the film. ‘Shonar Pahar’ releases on June 8.