Saswata to play a father in Bolly film

His unassuming contract killer, Bob Biswas, in Kahaani (2012) is still a benchmark for Bengali actors in Bollywood. But the story of Saswata Chatterjee’s life has moved forward many miles since then. The actor, whose last Hindi film was Anurag Basu’s

Jagga Jasoos

, where he played Jagga’s (Ranbir Kapoor) accident-prone foster father, Badal Bagchi aka Tutti Futti, is set to return to the national screen. He is currently shooting in

Jamshedpur

for the Hindi remake of

The Fault in Our Stars

. The film also stars Swastika Mukherjee in a key role.

Based on John Greene’s bestselling novel of the same name, Josh Boone’s Hollywood take in 2014 featured Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort in the lead. The novel is about a 16-year-old cancer patient who meets a cancer survivor at a support group and falls in love. The Hindi remake marks the directorial debut of casting director Mukesh Chhabra and stars newcomer Sanjana Sanghi alongside Sushant Singh Rajput. Said a source close to the unit, “Saswata is playing Sanjana’s father in the movie and Swastika, her mother. Both have important roles. It’s a long schedule in Jamshedpur and the team is shooting at an indoor venue. Talks are on for the shoot in Kolkata, but the dates are not finalised.”

Sushant had earlier shot for Dibakar Banerjee’s Detective Byomkesh Bakshy (2014), set in Kolkata of the 1940s.The actor, who managed to explore the city and its cuisine on his long stay, said he felt like a Bengali.