‘Mahalaya’ to ‘Mukherjee Dar Bou’: Bengali films set to release this March

Ushasie Chakraborty who recently launched her own production house titled ‘Hundred Flowers’ will play the lead in a sports drama ‘Kusumitar Goppo’ based on a real life incident of a woman footballer. Directed by Hrisikesh Mondol, the film is releasing on March 15. This is the first time a Bengali film has been made on a woman footballer. While Soumitra Chatterjee plays a senior sports journalist, who helps Kusumita during her struggling days, veteran actress Madhabi Mukhopadhyay will be seen as Soumitra’s on-screen wife. Former Mohun Bagan captain Shilton Paul will be seen playing himself in the film.

The year 2018 witnessed the rise of some well-scripted content-driven, small budget Bengali films. The audience also welcomed actors and character roles beyond the big names in Tollywood. This year, too, seems promising for Bengali cinema with a range of upcoming releases, both small budget and large-scale. In the first two months, the Bengali box office saw a mixed set of audience reactions with big releases like Shah Jahan Regency, Tritiya Adhyay, Ahaa Re, Nagarkirtan receiving a decent response. Now it’s time for March. Here's a look at some of the most anticipated Bengali films to release in March.

Written and directed by Soumik Sen, the film slated for March 1 release is based on All India Radio Calcutta’s controversial decision to drop Bhadra from the hugely popular radio show ‘Mahisasuramardini’ in 1976. The story revolves around the public outrage in 1976 following Akashvani Kolkata’s controversial replacement of Birendra Krishna Bhadra with Uttam Kumar for Mahisasurmardini, a program to welcome goddess Durga to earth. Birendra Krishna’s Sanskrit recitation dedicated to goddess Durga in Mahisasurmardini became so famous and deeply embedded in the Bengali psyche that even 'Mahanayak' Uttam Kumar had to face severe public outrage when replacing the legend.

In recent times 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. Beside Anushua Majumder playing the mother-in-law, Koneenica Banerjee will be seen as the daughter-in-law. Biswanath Basu plays Mukherjee Da. While Rituparna Sengupta plays a psychologist, Badshah Moitra and Aparajita Auddy will also be seen in pivotal roles. ‘Mukherjee Dar Bou’ will hit the theatres on March 8 which is also the international Women’s Day.

Soham Chakraborty, Hiraan and Rudranil Ghosh have joined hands to give you a laughter riot. Titled ‘Thai Curry’, the comedy caper has been directed by Ankit Aditya. Hiraan, Soham and Rudranil essay the role of three friends Sam, Ayan and Nitin respectively. All of them work in Thailand. Sam runs a real estate agency, Ayan is a hotel chef and Nitin is a freckle minded aimless guy. Apart from these three actors, Saswata Chatterjee will be seen as a mafia. Bidya Sinha Mim, Poulomi Das and Trina Saha play the female leads. This comedy flick is also releasing on March 1.

Slated for a March 15 release, the detective thriller stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Barun Chanda, Indrani Dutta, Debdut Ghosh, Ankita Majumder in pivotal roles. The story revolves around the most suspicious fact of Koh-e-Noor's existence in Kolkata and as the story proceeds with the exciting incidents in the life of the protagonists will keep the audience stunned for a couple of hours. The unknown incidents behind the known facts of history about Koh-e-Noor come under light one by one.

Starring Samadarshi Dutta, Soumitra Chatterjee, Aloknanda Roy Banerjee, Deblina Dutta Mukherjee, Lily Chakraborty, Kaushik Roy, ‘WMT 9615’ revolves around a taxi and has three interlinked stories connected to the taxi driver Rahul Chatterjee who is undergoing financial crisis. All three incidents involve Rahul and a shocking turn of events changes his life forever. The first incident follows a dream, the second one focuses on the twists in a relationship and the last incident tells a love story. The social drama opens in theatres on March 1.

Debutant director duo Siddharth Sen and Subrato Mondal upcoming ‘The Hacker’, which releases on March 1, promises an edge of the seat thriller that will keep you guessing. Aryann Bhowmik, best known for essaying out the Santu character in Srijit Mukherji's Kakababu series, will be seen as a hacker Remo whose life changes after a shocking turn of events as he teams up with an undercover RAW agent and he transforms into an ethical hacker to do something good leaving behind his evil past. Ena Saha plays the love interest of Remo.

The Aniket Chattopadhay directorial narrates the story of Shankar who runs a small grocery shop in a suburban town, Jagot is a tailor, Naran is a barber, Namita has a ladies tailoring shop, Kaloda runs a tea shop and Bishu is an unemployed frustrated guy. People are happy with their profession but it all changes when a shopping mall comes along, which brings in a devastating effect in the whole system. It’s now a tough competition for the local vendors. However, they accept the challenge head on. Will they be able to fight for their survival? ‘Shankar Mudi’s ensemble cast includes some of the big names from the industry such as Kaushik Ganguly, Soumitra Chatterjee, Shantilal Mukherjee, Saswata Chatterjee, Kanchan Mullick, Biswanath Basu, Jisshu Sengupta and others. Director Anjan Dutt has also been cast as a school teacher in the film.