Weekend roundup: Mimi-Anirban pairing up for first time to official poster of ‘Dwitiyo Purush’, here’s what made headlines 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:

Debaloy Bhattacharya’s next ‘Dracula Sir’ is the story of a primary school teacher who develops a pair of canine teeth earning the nickname, Dracula Sir. As destiny pushes him towards becoming the vampire he has always been referred to, he has a story to tell from 1971 that makes his journey a tale of finding love and revenge. Produced by SVF, the film will go on the floors from January 10. While Mimi plays a mysterious character of Manjari, Anirban will be seen in the titular role. Debaloy says this film is my search for the Bengali Dracula without the castle, who is out to create his own myth.

The official trailer of Srijit Mukherji’s much awaited thriller ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ has already made everyone talking about it as it promised a superb start to the year 2020 for all Bengali cine buffs. Nine years ago, Srijit’s ‘Baishey Srabon’ became a sensation. Now almost a decade later, he is back with its spin-off ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ that seems to traverse more dangerous territories. And now, the makers have released the official poster from the upcoming thriller. It looks like Parambrata Chattopadhyay and Anirban bhattacharjee will face off in a blood bath! The story will start from where ‘Baishey Srabon’ had left off and we will get to see Parambrata Chattopadhyay reprising the role of detective Abhijit Pakarashi and Raima Sen will relive her character Amrita, Abhijit’s love interest. Also, Abir Chatterjee will be returning with his role of Surya in a special appearance.

Raj Chakraborty’s next directorial ‘Habji Gabji’ will address a socially relevant issue like the young generation is obsessed with mobile and internet gaming. In fact, the title has been derived from a hugely popular mobile game PUBG. In the film, Parambrata and Subhashree play working parents who can’t give enough time to their kid and the kid is getting lost more and more in the virtual world of internet and mobile. It’s yet to be decided who will play their son. While the story and screenplay are by Padmanabha Dasgupta, Indraadip Das Gupta will handle the music department. Manas Ganguly will work as the DOP.

Tollywood’s latest connection to politics, Mimi Chakraborty is yet again facing the wrath of netizens; this time for playing carrom inside the party office. The actor-turned-TMC MP was also brutally trolled ever since she posted a video. The actor-politician who was elected from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency recently enjoyed some carrom time with her party workers while on a visit to a TMC office in her constituency. Mimi took to his Facebook handle to share the video and captioned it: “A moment of playing carrom at the party office, just before leaving for the day.” But she had the least idea about the consequences and how netizens would react.

It comes as a terrible news! A portion of Ritwik Ghatak’s ancestral home now stands as a makeshift cycle garage at the Rajshahi Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital. The incident has already received criticism in Bangladesh and they are already distributing memorandums and planning to form human chains calling for immediate action. The memorandum from Rajshahi Film Society, Rajshahi University Film Society, poetry organization 'Kabikunja' and Ritwik Ghatak Film Society has been sent to the deputy commissioner of Rajshahi demanding conservation of the iconic filmmaker’s ancestral home.

The next film from Dev’s home production, ‘Hobu Chandra Raja Gobu Chandra Mantri’, grabbed attention ever since it was announced and the recently released trailer simply doubles the excitement. Directed by Aniket Chattopadhyay, it’s a fairy tale comedy based on two short stories by Dakshinaranjan Majumdar. The story follows a fictitious kingdom Bombagadh where Saswata Chatterjee is Raja Hobu Chandra and Kharaj Mukherjee is his Mantri Gobu Chandra. Arpita Chatterjee plays the queen Kusumkali. Both Saswata and Kharaj have worked with Aniket Chattopadhyay previously but this is the first time Arpita is working with the ‘Hoichoi’ director. Incidentally, this is the first production Dev won’t feature in a film from his home production Dev Entertainment Ventures.

Sayantan Ghosal is in a feel good mood. His latest directorial ‘Sagardwipey Jawker Dhan’ is running successfully at theatres since its release on December 6. What’s more interesting is the talented director is already working on ‘Jawker Dhan 3’! Yes, you heard it right. When asked what’s next for him, Sayantan promptly replied: “Jawker Dhan 3 is in the pipeline for sure. We have already started working on a few scripts. Let’s see how it progresses. Once a film gets released, I quickly shift my focus to the next project. For me, my biggest critic is none other than me. This time also, I believe I have identified which areas need improvement. I am really looking forward to start my next!”

It seems Tollywood is in love with treasure hunt drama! Last year we had seen ‘Alinagarer Golokdhadha’ and ‘Guptodhoner Sondhane’. This year we had Sayantan Ghosal’s ‘Sagardwipey Jawker Dhan’. And now, yet another adventure flick with treasure hunt being the main theme is in the pipeline. A group of college students gets involved in a mysterious incident during their excursion and it changes their lives forever. What happens next forms the crux of new Bengali thriller titled ‘Bong-O-Rohoshyo’. Directed by a young filmmaker Srijeet, the upcoming film’s official trailer and song were released recently in the presence of the cast and crew of the film. The film stars Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Sumit Samaddar, Barun Chakrabarty, Prabir Dutta, Jeet, Rohan and others in pivotal roles.