Coronavirus: ‘Commando’ to ‘Dharmajuddha’; Bengali movies halted or delayed amid the outbreak

Arjunn Dutta’s second film ‘Guldasta’ is the latest film to see its release getting postponed due to coronavirus outbreak. The social drama was supposed to hit the big screens on April 24. The makers have stated any further announcement on the release date will be made after April 3.

Produced by Roop Production and Entertainment, ‘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 film also stars Ishaan Mazumder, Anubhav Kanjilal, Anuradha Mukherjee and others. The film follows the journey of three distinctive women intertwined in a web of make-believe emotions.

The coronavirus has hit the movie industry quite hard, with so many films worldwide halting their production or seeing their releases delayed or postponed as the outbreak continues to spread. Just like every other film industry across India, Tollywood is no exception! Have a look at our list of the most impacted Bengali films.

Shoot for some of the Bengali films have also been stalled amid the panic. For instance, Abir Chatterjee and the ‘Abaar Bochhor Kuri Pore’ team had to postpone their North Bengal shoot. They were supposed to shoot in Kalimpong from March 17. Abir who is playing one of the leads in the film directed by Srimanta Sengupta took to his Twitter handle to announce the postponement news on Monday. The slice of a life drama has a cast that’s no short of a galaxy of stars. It includes acting powerhouses Arpita Chatterjee, Paran Bandyopadhyay, Tanusree Chakravorty, Swagata Basu, Abhishek Banerjee, Sumanta Mukhopadhyay, Anirban Bhattacharyya, Ravi Shaw, Swagata Basu, Arya Dasgupta, Pushan Dasgupta, Dibyasha Das, Tanika Basu, Rajarshi Nag, Aritra Dutta Banik in pivotal roles.

Nusrat Jahan is paired up opposite Abir Chatterjee in Bratya Basu’s next film ‘Dictionary’ which recently completed its Shantiniketan schedule and has few more crucial scenes to be shot. But, we hear the shoot has been postponed for now. ‘Dictionary’ also features Bangladeshi actor Mosharraf Karim, Poulomi Basu and Arna Mukhopadhyay in pivotal roles. This film also marks Bratya’s comeback as a director after his last outing ‘Tara’ in 2010. The relationship drama is based on Buddhadeb Guha’s two short stories ‘Baba Howa’ and ‘Swami Howa’.

Dev’s schedule has also been disrupted due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Tollywood superstar recently started shooting for his first Bangladeshi film ‘Commando’ alongside Jahara Mitu and was scheduled to travel to Bangladesh on March 22. However, he has decided to cancel the plan, because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Initially, ‘Commando’s first schedule was scheduled to be shot in Thailand. Then, a large portion of the action flick was also planned to be shot in some serene locations in France. However, the current scenario of the increasing COVID-19 tension has left the entire schedule for a toss.

Mimi Chakraborty and Jeet, who were in London to shoot for their Eid release ‘Baazi’, are returning to India along with the whole unit of ‘Baazi’. Mimi flied off to London on March 13 to shoot for the Anshuman Pratyush directorial. The recent ban from the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on passengers arriving from UK, Turkey and EU countries from March 18 -31 is believed to be the main reason for Mimi and Jeet’s sudden return as early as possible. As per the new travel advisory, no airline will be allowed to board a passenger from these countries to India. When Mimi, Jeet and team Baazi reaches India they might have to face the quarantine process.

Raj Chakrabarty’s next ‘Dharmajuddha’ has an ensemble cast including his wife Subhashree Ganguly, Swatilekha Sengupta, Soham, Ritwick Chakraborty and Parno Mittra among others. The political thriller has already taken everyone by surprise with the gripping trailer and the melodious songs. Bankrolled by Raj’s home production, ‘Dharmajuddha’ was supposed to release on April 3 but after West Bengal CM announced that all cinema halls will be closed down until March 31, the makers decided to postpone the release.

This film starring Saswata Chatterjee and Srabanti Chatterjee in the lead for the first time has also suffered the consequences. The Manas Basu directorial which was supposed to be released on March 27 has now been pushed back. However, no official date has been announced. The story, by Indronil Boksi, revolves around Habol (Saswata) who is a photographer with a studio near a crematorium and is into dead body photography.