Weekend roundup: From ‘Golondaaz’ motion poster to Abir Chatterjee-Nusrat Jahan reuniting, Bengali cinema’s newsmakers this week

Tollywood enjoyed quite some action this week. If you have missed the exciting news, gossips or latest developments that have rocked Bengali cinema, here is a weekly roundup for you. Take a look:

Jisshu Sengupta is set to share the screen with Bhumi Pednekar in the upcoming horror flick ‘Durgavati’ which is the Hindi remake of Telugu hit ‘Bhaagamathie’ that starred Anushka Shetty in the lead. The Tollywood hunk has already started shooting for the film being directed by G Ashok who also helmed the Telugu film. Durgavati is co-produced by Akshay Kumar, T-Series and Abundantia Entertainment and follows the story of an IAS officer trapped inside a haunted house, where she gets possessed by a spirit.

We have already seen them as a married couple in ‘Asur’ earlier this year, and now, Nusrat Jahan and Abir Chatterjee are once again teaming up in Bratya Basu’s next directorial. The film will also feature Bangladeshi actor Mosharraf Karim. Besides, Poulomi Basu and Arna Mukhopadhyay will also be seen in pivotal roles in this relationship drama titled ‘Dictionary’. It marks Bratya’s comeback as a director after his last offering ‘Tara’ in 2010. The film is expected to go on the floors by end of February.

The biggest surprise of Srijit Mukherji’s latest release ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ is the rough look of Anirban Bhattacharya and Rwitobroto Mukherjee. Srijit is well aware of the supreme talent Anirban has and he has continuously utilized it in his last few films. In ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ again he uses Anirban in a never before seen avatar. The versatile actor has surprised everyone with his new look of Khoka, who is synonymous to violence and Srijit is happy to see the response from the audience. “Anirban plays someone from a particular stratum of the society which is not shown enough in Bengali films. He has done a fantastic job. It’s my sixth film with him and he has exceeded all my expectations each time,” the acclaimed director heaped praise on the ‘Gumnaami’ actor.

Dhrubo Banerjee’s next ‘Golondaaz’ has already created a ripple on social media and why not! Tolly superstar Dev will be seen as Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari, the forgotten hero who is known to be the father of Indian football. Fans are keeping their fingers crossed about any update from the project and on Sunday, celebrating the Republic Day, the first-look motion poster from ‘Golondaaz’ was launched. The poster looks every bit intriguing and it will surely raise the excitement bar among football-crazy Bengalis. Beside Dev in the titular role, the film has an ensemble cast including Anirban Bhattacharya, Ishaa Saha, Indrashish Ray, Srikanta Acharya and John Bhattacharya in pivotal roles.

The massacre in Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka had stunned everyone in 2016. It was the worst terrorist attack in the neighboring country Bangladesh. Now, Agnidev Chatterjee is making a thriller based on the terror attack. Incidentally, the film’s shooting had started way back in 2016 but got shelved for various reasons. Now, Agnidev will start shooting again next month. It will be shot in locations like Paris, Barcelona, Montenegro and the borders of Turkey. Titled ‘Jihaad’, the film has Rohit Roy, Rituparna Sengupta and Koneenica Banerjee in the lead.

Be it his debut directorial ‘Biloo Rakkhosh’ or the critically-acclaimed ‘Pupa’, Indrasis Acharya wants to go deep inside human emotional crises to explore them the way they are in reality. He wants to narrate human stories which can stir the mind without going emotionally overboard. That’s what the independent filmmaker explores in his next ‘Parcel’ which has already made movie lovers talking about it for the ensemble casting. The film stars Saswata Chatterjee, Rituparna Sengupta, Sreela Majumder, Ambarish Bhattacharya and Daminee Basu among others. And now, the psychological thriller is all set for its theatrical release. Indrasis himself shared the good news on his twitter handle that ‘Parcel’ will hit the big screens on March 13.

We already know Parambrata Chattopadhyay is making a biopic on Soumitra Chatterjee titled ‘Abhijan’. What’s more interesting is Jisshu Sengupta will be seen as a young Soumitra Chatterjee, while the living legend himself will portray the later phase of his life. The film will be shot in two parts and the first schedule starts in the first week of February. Apart from Jisshu Sengupta, Paoli Dam will be seen as Suchitra Sen, critically acclaimed filmmaker Qaushiq Mukherjee will essay Satyajit Ray. Sohini Sarkar will play Madhabi Mukhopadhyay. Rudranil Ghosh will take on the role of legendary Rabi Ghosh.