Tollywood weekly recap: ‘Shantilal O Projapoti Rohoshyo’ to Veteran actor Swarup Datta demise, here’s what made the headlines

With the news of veteran Bengal actor Swarup Datta’s sad demise, Birsa Dasgupta’s upcoming films, ED questioning Rituparna over Rose Valley scam, the Bengali film industry enjoyed quite some action this week. If you have missed the exciting news, gossips or latest developments that have rocked Tollywood, here is a quick look at the weekly roundup for you. Scroll down to have a look at the Bengali movies and stars who made headlines this week.

Birsa Dasgupta whose latest directorial ‘Bibaho Obhijaan’ has been lapped up by the audience will soon start working on two interesting projects. The first one is ‘Haawa Bandook’ that sees romance blossoming against the backdrop of political violence and the second one is Kaala Khoon which deals with mining mafia. “I have two interesting projects in the pipeline. One is a film that I am calling ‘Haawa Bandook’ right now. It tells the story of a romance blossoming in the background of one of the bloodiest and most heinous state-sponsored massacres committed in our country, right here in Bengal, merely a few kilometres from the heart of Kolkata, way back in 1971. I tell this story through the eyes of a survivor, and this is a film that I have always wanted to make. The other is ‘Kaala Khoon’, and it’s set in the backdrop of the Jharkhand mining mafia and spans fifteen years,” revealed the director.

Aparna Sen’s ‘Ghawre Baire Aaj’ is a modern day adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s iconic novel Ghare Baire. Starring Anirban Bhattacharya, Jisshu Sengupta and Tuhina Das in the lead and Anjan Dutt and Rwitobroto Mukherjee in key roles this film surely triggers nostalgia. While the film hasn’t yet hit the theatres, it has been selected as the opening film of the prestigious Jagaran Film Festival at Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi on July 18. Sreenanda Shankar who plays a crucial role in the film took to her Twitter handle to share the good news.

Veteran Bengali actor Swarup Dutta passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 78. He had been hospitalised after suffering a major stroke last Saturday. He was rushed to a city private hospital and doctors found a blood clot in his brain after the scans. Since then he was in ventilation and his condition was declared critical. The veteran actor was also suffering from age related illness for quite a while. Swarup Dutta was a distinguished actor of Bengali silver screen throughout the late 60s and early 70s appearing in films like Apanjan, Maa O Meye, Swarna Sikhar Prangane, Andha Atit, Ekhoni, Sagina Mahato to name a few.

The wait is finally over. After teasing the Bengali cine buffs with a series of posters and introducing Ritwick Chakraborty as the new detective on the block, here’s the much-awaited trailer of Pratim D Gupta’s ‘Shantilal O Projapoti Rohoshyo’.

The trailer with snippets of what to expect from the thriller, raises the curiosity bar about how an average weather reporter transforms into a detective as he embarks on a journey to unravel the mystery behind a popular film star Nandita. Ritwick Chakraborty will play the titular role of staff reporter Shantilal Bhattacharya who will decode the mystery. This is the fourth time Ritwick is working with Pratim. Beside Ritwick, Paoli Dam will play the female lead, a popular actress Nandita. While Ritwick will be seen as the journalist, noted director Goutam Ghose will essay out his editor’s role. The film also has Ambarish Bhattacharya, Shankar Chakraborty and Satarupa Ghosh in key roles. There will be a cameo by Srijit Mukherji as well.

Arjunn Dutta has every reason to celebrate. His debut feature film ‘Abyakto’ is now an official selection at the 16^th Indian Film Festival Stuttgart, 2019 and will be screened on July 19. This festival will also see the screening of Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Uma’ and ‘Ek Je Chhilo Raja’. The film will also have its screening in the official selection of Indian Film at Indo-German Film Week, 2019 on July 15, 17 and 18.

The story of Abyakto chronicles the life of Indra through his growing years, from being a child to becoming a full grown man. As he grows up, a series of unexplained events that occur to him turns him into a man that he never thought would become. The film stars Arpita Chatterjee, Adil Hussain, Anubhav Kanjilal, Anirban Ghosh and Kheya Chattopadhyay among others.

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday questioned Rituparna Sengupta in connection with the Rose Valley scam at the Kolkata CGO Complex, for almost seven hours. ED, which is investigating the Rs 15,000 crore chit fund case, had earlier summoned Rituparna with regards to the money her company allegedly received from the Rose Valley Group. ED believes the Gautam Kundu-owned chit fund group had allegedly paid around Rs 7.5 crore to Bhavna Aaj O Kal, Ritu’s production house between 2011 and 2012. The production house has over the years produced dance reality shows, television programs and a makeover program for girls.

A group of Tollywood actors were in Delhi on Thursday to join BJP. Some well-known faces of Bengali film and television industry including Parno Mittra, Rupanjana Mitra, Anjana Basu, Kanchana Maitra, Arindam Haldar (Lama), Rishi Kaushik, Anindya Bandyopadhyay, Saurav Chakraborty, Moumita Gupta, and Rupa Bhattacharya gave a visit to the BJP head office. Artists with different political views are facing discrimination, these stars have complained. Just when two organizations controlled by BJP starts their journey in Tollywood, this will surely leave a significant effect on the current political scenario of the Bengali film industry.

Abir Chatterjee is undoubtedly one of the most successful actors in Bengal right now. He is part of three superhit franchises while playing two iconic sleuths - Feluda (Badshahi Angti) and Byomkesh Bakshi in many movies. While fans have showered love on these movies, the actor has rather an unpopular choice when it comes to his movies. He picked his five favorite movies - The Royal Bengal Tiger by Rajesh Ganguly, Hrid Majhare by Ranjan Ghosh, Abby Sen by Atanu Ghosh, Bastu Shaap by Kaushik Ganguly, and well, obviously the Byomkesh Films.

Paoli Dam recently finished the first schedule of ‘Sanjhbati’ shooting and now she will leave for Bangkok to shoot for Kamaleswar Mukherjee’s ‘Password’ which is eyeing a Puja release. After that, she will head back to her in-law's place in Assam. Starring Dev, Paoli Dam, Rukmini Maitra, Adrit Roy, and Parambrata Chatterjee in the lead, ‘Password’ is surely one of the most anticipated Bengali films this year. ‘Passward’ sees Dev playing a top cop in the cybercrime department and Rukmini Maitra as an ethical hacker. Adrit Roy will be seen as a deep web strategist. The thriller revolves around the dark side of social networking.

After being delayed for almost half a year, finally, there is a piece of good news coming from the ‘Datta’ team. If all goes according to plan, the shoot may resume in October. Nirmal Chakraborty’s directorial debut based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic novel ‘Datta’ went haywire after Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed, who plays Bilash was ordered to return to Bangladesh as the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) blacklisted him and he had no choice but to leave. Since then The film was on hold.