Weekend Roundup: Bengali films and celebs who made headlines this week

With the new movie announcements, ‘Jyeshthoputro’ finally releasing, update on Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Gumnaami’ and a lot more, 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.

Srijit Mukherji’s upcoming thriller ‘Gumnaami’, inspired by the life of the Faizabad ascetic Gumnami Baba, will be a two-hero film. Gumnami Baba was rumoured to be Subhas Chandra Bose, aka Netaji, in disguise. Srijit recently revealed his film will have two actors as the main protagonists. While Prosenjit Chatterjee will be seen as the ascetic, the other actor will be finalised soon. The thriller is based on Anuj Dhar and Chandrachur Ghose’s book ‘Conundrum: Subhas Bose’s Life After Death’.

It’s the first time Prosenjit Chatterjee and Ritwick Chakraborty are sharing the screen. It’s the story which was originally conceived by none other than Rituparno Ghosh and then Kaushik Ganguly rearranged it. Already excited? Yes, there’s every reason to feel the hype ‘Jyeshthoputro’ has created as it finally hit the theatres this week. The emotional family drama is receiving appreciation from all corners.

Ranjan Ghosh’s ‘Ahaa Re’ which has recently completed 50 days at the box office is an official selection for screening at the Indian Film Festival Roma alongside Bollywood hits like ‘Bahubali: The Beginning’ (2015), ‘Udta Punjab’ (2016), ‘Pink’ (2016), ‘Hindi Medium’ (2017), October (2018), ‘Bahubali: The Conclusion (2017) and Kalank (2019). The prestigious film fest was held from 24 to 28 April at Nuovo Cinema Aquila in Italy and Ranjan’s romantic drama had two screenings at the festival.

Birsa Dasgupta’s upcoming ‘Bibaho Obhijaan’, a full-on comedy, has been in the news ever since it was announced. First, Mimi Chakraborty was replaced by Nusrat Faria. Then Anirban Bhattacharya joined the cast to play the role of a dacoit. Puja Banerjee has been roped in for an item song sung by melody queen Shreya Ghoshal and now versatile actor Ambarish Bhattacharya is on board. He will be seen in a comic role of a police commissioner. Ankush and Rudranil Ghosh play the two main leads of two close friends. Besides playing one of the leads, Rudranil has also penned the story, script, screenplay, and dialogue for the upcoming venture produced by SVF. The story sees two husbands always in the run to escape from their wives and another husband is desperate to get back his wife.

Shuvro Roy, who has made his name as a classy film editor, has started shooting for his directorial debut ‘Ghoon’ which has a group of talented actors including Sourav Das, Samadarshi Dutta, Poulami Das and Anusha Vishwanathan. Shuvro will be editing his own film. ‘Ghoon’ is a story of complex relationships which mainly revolves around a father and daughter, a live-in relationship and a doctor. While Samadarshi has been roped in to play the doctor, Sourav Das essays a young filmmaker. Ashoke Vishwanathan’s daughter Anusha plays a struggling model-actress.

Suchitra Sen's incomparable beauty and acting prowess had once attracted many iconic filmmakers including Satyajit Ray but Bengal’s matinee queen politely turned down Ray’s tempting offer to play the lead in his film. It was early 1960s when Satyajit Ray had planned to make a cinematic adaptation of the famous Bengali novel 'Devi Chaudhurani' and he had initially approached Suchitra for the titular role. But the legendary director had one condition; she has to block her dates and can’t be a part of any other film during the shoot. Suchitra Sen couldn’t accept the condition, so Ray had to drop the idea.

Fan's favorite JeKO returns to the big screen! You must be wondering what’s ‘JeKO’! Well, it’s the short form of the cute jodi of Jeet and Koel. The official posters of ‘Shesh Theke Shuru’ featuring Jeet and Koel Mallick were released and the fans can’t keep calm anymore. Directed by Raj Chakraborty, it’s a romantic thriller which sees the fan-favorite Tollywood pair making a comeback after four years. The recently released teaser of the film is already a hit as well and these two new posters are just raising the expectation bar.

‘Basu Paribar’ which released earlier this month received appreciation from all corners. Rituparna Sengupta, Aparna Sen, Soumitra Chatterjee, Sudiptaa Chakraborty, Jisshu Sengupta, Saswata Chatterjee, Paran Bandopadhyay, Lili Chakraborty – you name it and everyone is here to enthral you in this Suman Ghosh directed intense family drama. While the film continues to run successful at the theatres here’s a good news for team ‘Basu Paribar’. It’s an official selection in competition at the New York Indian Film Festival. What makes the news more exciting is Aparna Sen has been nominated the Best Actress category.