Here’s all you need to know about Rituparna Sengupta and her upcoming Bengali films

The year 2018 has been quite remarkable for national award-winning actress Rituparna Sengupta. While Kaushik Ganguly’s ‘Drishtikone’ earned her critical acclaims and the emotional family drama also starring Prosenjit Chatterjee opposite her turning out to be one of the biggest hits of the year, she took the challenge of portraying a wide range of characters in a number of content-driven films including ‘Dharasnan’, ‘Rong Beronger Kori’ and ‘Gaheen Hriday’. The pretty actress has her kitty full now with many films in the pipeline. Scroll down to have a look at some of her upcoming films.

After Rajkahini, Srijit Mukherji and Rituparna Sengupta are working together once again for Srijit’s next ‘Shah Jahan Regency’, a modern-day take on Shankar’s iconic novel Chowringhee. The film is slated for a release on January 18. According to Srijit, Ritu adds an X factor it has included a lot of zing to the film’s cast. Her role is unique in a lot of ways and she will be seen in an extended special appearance. That’s all we know so far about the pretty actor’s character in the film as Rituparna also remains tight-lipped. It also features a bunch of experienced actors like Abir Chatterjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Anjan Dutt, Anirban Bhattacharya, Rudranil Ghosh, Babul Supriyo, Rittika Sen and Mamata Shankar. Prosenjit Chatterjee and Jisshu Sengupta, whose names were initially announced as part of the cast, couldn’t do the film as Prosenjit felt he would have been too old for the role he was offered and Jisshu had date issues.

After ‘Ekti Cinemar Golpo’, Rituparna Sengupta and Bangladeshi actor Arfin Shuvoo are ready to discover their ultimate true love - the love for food! Ranjan Ghosh floored everyone with his unique story in ‘Rongberonger Korhi’ and now he is back with ‘Aha Re’, a unique love story. It’s sort of a fairy tale crossover love story. A rich Muslim chef from Dhaka (Arfin) and a middle class Hindu home cook (Rituparna), using their passion for food and culinary arts, start a new journey of finding love. They connect through the art of making ordinary ingredients in an extraordinary way. This food movie focuses as much as on love as our tribulations in life.

Three years after the huge success of ‘Bela Seshe’ director duo Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy starts shooting for new film ‘Bela Shuru’ which the directors claim not a prequel or sequel to their previous film. The much anticipated family drama started rolling in Bolpur, Shiboprosad and Nandita’s most preferred location. The entire cast of ‘Bela Seshe’ will be seen in ‘Bela Shuru’ as well. Apart from Rituparna Sengupta, the film has an ensemble cast including Soumitra Chatterjee, Swatilekha Sengupta, Aparajita Auddy, Kharaj Mukherjee, Indrani Dutta, Monami Ghosh, Anindya Chatterjee, Shankar Chakraborty and others. In Bela Seshe, Rituparna played the role of Mili, one of the daughters of Soumitra and Swatilekha, who had a troubled married life. She is believed to be playing the daughter of the elderly couple once again.

Director Riingo is all set to introduce a gun-toting top female police officer in his next ‘Damini’. Rituparna Sengupta will be seen in the titular role as DCP Damini Sinha. This is the first time Rituparna will show her action chops and her character is loosely based on former IPS officer Kran Bedi. Bratya Basu will reportedly be seen in a negative role in ‘Damini’. If all goes according to plan, the film will release early next year. According to industry sources, the makers are already planning a sequel to ‘Damini’. This film draws inspiration from Kolkata’s first woman joint commissioner of police (crime) Damayanti Sen. Because of the resemblance between the film’s initial title ‘Dayamanti’and Damayanti Sen, speculation is rife the action flick is loosely based on the real life story of Damayanti Sen. For those unaware, she grabbed the headlines in 2012 for solving the controversial Park Street gang-rape case.

Rituparna will also be seen in a double role in Reshmi Mitra’s next ‘Limelight’. Beside Rituparna, the film also stars Jeetu Kamal, Sreela Majumder, Soumitro Banerjee and Arjun Chakraborty in pivotal roles. The plot revolves around a junior artist Archana who belongs to a lower middle class family depending on her income. Archana sees popular actress Srimoyee Sen as her idol. Interestingly, they have a few similarities in their looks. Srimoyee one day meets with an accident and doctors inform her that it will take at least one year to recover. To retain her stardom in the industry, she convinces Archana to live her life for the time period in return for a hefty amount. As Srimoyee leaves for USA for treatments Archana faces the hardship to adjust with her life. When a popular actor Ayanjeet falls for her, Archana starts to think of herself as Srimoyee and relationship develops between them. One day the real Srimoyee returns. What happens next forms the crux of the film.

Over the last few years we have seen a number of films that inspire women to rediscover their true selves, their true identity and now debutant director Pritha Chakraborty’s upcoming ‘Mukherjee Dar Bou’ will encourage you to see the relationship between a woman and her mother-in-law from a completely different perspective. Under the banner of Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy’s Windows Production, the emotional family drama is currently being shot in and around Kolkata. ‘Mukherjee Dar Bou’ comes with an ensemble cast including Rituparna Sengupta, Konineeca Banerjee, Anasua Majumdar, Badshah Moitra, Aparajita Auddy and Biswanath Basu in pivotal roles. While Anasua will be seen as the mother-in-law, Koneenica as the daughter-in-law, Rituparna plays a psychologist in the film.

Rituparna Sengupta has impressed almost every director over the years whenever she has essayed traditional characters. So, every time they plan for something epic, the only name that comes to mind is the experienced Bengali actress and she will once again bring life to an epic character of Bengali literature, Labangalata. Shooting for this film has already started as Rituparna with hand full of projects wants to wrap up her shooting part as early as possible. The film directed by Bappaditya Bandyopadhyay is based on Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic novel ‘Rajani’. While the original story centers around the character Rajani, a blind young woman setting flowers, the plot of Bappa Bandopadhyay’s film progresses from Labangalata’s perspective. Beside Ritu playing the titular role, Indraneil Sengupta and Alamgir will essay the other central characters.

Rituparna will play one of the leads in Sandip Chowdhury’s ‘Bidrohini’. The upcoming thriller, which has already gone on floors, also stars Rishi Kaushick, Anindo Sarkar, Santana Basu, Arunima Sen, Sonali Chowdhury and others. The plot weaves around Kiran (Rituparna) who raises her voice against the mental and physical torture once inflicted upon her sister. While the music of this film will be scored by Anwesha Dutta Gupta, Sumit Dam is the assistant director.