Tollywood Roundup: Bengali celebs who made the headlines this week

Whether it’s the rumours surrounding Dev’s viral video, ‘Bijaya’s release date announcement, Arindam Sil’s Bollywood debut, Priya Cinema’s uncertain future or Anupam Roy’s latest single to Rituparna Sengupta’s new film; 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 news from this week.

Renowned singer Dwijen Mukhopadhyay’s medical condition has deteriorated once again. The 91-year-old singer was taken to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata few days ago due to high fever and chest pain. His condition was so critical that doctors straight away admitted him to the ICU and a medical broad was formed to monitor the veteran singer’s health condition. Dr Raghunath Mishra, the medical superintendent and vice-principal of SSKM Hospital, informed that the Dwijen Mukhopadhyay is suffering from an infection in the chest and is running a high fever. Given his age, the medical team is constantly monitoring his condition in the ICU.

Kumar Sanu’s son Jaan recently recorded the title track of Ram Kamal Mukherjee's next ‘Season's Greetings’ which is a tribute to late Rituparno Ghosh. This is also the 24-year-old singer’s playback debut in Bollywood. Produced by Aritra Das and Shailendra Kumar the film stars Paoli Dam, Lillette Dubey and debutant actor Azhar Khan. The music for this film is by composer duo Shailendra Sayanti. The track ‘Kunjvan’ is a part of ‘Bhanusingher Padabali’. Tagore composed this track in Maithili (Braj) language.

Recently a video showing Dev bashing a man stormed the social media with many questioning his sudden loss of temper. Some suggested it’s just a part of ‘Hoichoi Unlimited’s promotional campaign. However, the shocking video baffled netizens. No, Dev has finally cleared the air! Sitting beside his girlfriend and co-producer Rukmini Maitra, co-star Puja Banerjee and director Aniket Chattopadhyay on October 2 at his restaurant the Tollywood heartthrob revealed the video was nothing but a promotional one to aware people against the fake news circulated on social media.

‘Bijaya’, the sequel to ‘Bishorjon’ will release in November. ‘Bishorjon’ earned rave reviews after release, even won the national award last year but the unique story of Padma and Nasir Ali hasn’t ended yet and will continue in ‘Bijaya’. At the end of Durga Puja festival, after the immersion (bishorjan) of the idol there is a Bengali tradition of Bijaya which is nothing but a celebration of the victory of Goddess Durga. ‘Bijaya’s concept is quite similar to that, just like the second part of a novel. In ‘Bisharjan’, there were so many questions that were left unanswered and this second installation will offer those answers.

Raj Chakraborty’s next production ‘Prem Amar 2’ directed by Bidula Bhattacharjee faced an unwanted controversy recently as the shooting for this Indo-Bangladesh project was stopped in Bangladesh as the production unit allegedly had no permission to shoot in Bangladesh. It didn’t go well with the unit and they returned to Kolkata. But now it seems the controversy didn’t affect the shooting that much as director Bidula herself shared a wrap up picture on social media. ‘Prem Amar 2’ stars ‘Noor Jahan’ fame Adrit Roy and Puja Cherry Roy in the lead.

Shaheb Bhattacharjee is all geared up for a 40-minute dance play ‘Naad’ directed by Raktim Goswami. It will be staged at Gyan Mancha on October 12. The versatile actor will join 6 other dancers performing four different movements – contemporary, creative, classical and folk – to live vocals. With ‘Naad’, choreographer turned director Raktim wants to spread a message against the corruption, racism and mass killing of children in Syria.

Arindam Sil is all geared up for his Bollywood debut. Yes, you heard it right! It’s time to direct a Hindi film. So, what’s the subject of this film? Well, if all goes according to plan, it will be a Hindi version of his own Bengali hit ‘Dhananjay’ which received critical acclaim in 2017. But it’s not a remake. The renowned director has made it clear. “Yes, I am planning a Hindi version of ‘Dhananjay’ but it won’t be a remake. Instead, this film will have a different interpretation,” said the director.

Rituparna Sengupta will play a key role in Sandip Chowdhury’s ‘Bidrohini’. The upcoming thriller, which has already gone on floors, also stars Rishi Kaushick, Aninda 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.

It seems trouble is in an unending spiral for Priya Cinema. Following a shocking turn of events West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services, in less than 24 hours since giving a NOC to open the theatre, has scrapped its order for an indefinite time. Earlier the fire department sent a notice to close the hall after a fire broke out on August 5. The latest intimation from the state fire department withdraws its earlier NOC, until the building passes the required fire safety standards. The revocation of the NOC certainly comes as a big blow to Arijit Dutta, the owner of Priya Cinema.

Here is another good news for Anupam Roy fans. A fresh, new single sung by the celebrated musician has been released to double the Durga Puja excitement. It’s a Puja special romantic number ‘Mitthye Kotha’ to define Puja romance. In the music video, Television's popular face John will romance Fidaa actress Sanjana Banerjee. Isn’t it exciting? The singer-songwriter will release an album containing 12 songs during Puja. His last Kaalbaishakhi’, another single, also won many a million hearts.