Durga Puja is set to be a treat for the Bengali audience this year, with a lineup of films and web series featuring Tollywood A-listers hitting the screens later this week. Aside from pandal hopping and bhuri bhoj, you can also delve into these highly-anticipated Bengali releases — new movies in theatres and shows on OTT.
MOVIES
Raghu Dakat
Directed by: Dhrubo Banerjee
Cast: Dev, Idhika Paul, Sohini Sarkar, Anirban Bhattacharya, Roopa Ganguly
Dev plays the titular vigilante warrior in Dhrubo Banerjee’s period drama Raghu Dakat, also starring Idhika Paul, Sohini Sarkar, Anirban Bhattacharya, Roopa Ganguly. The film set during the colonial period, shows British officers unleashing a reign of terror in Bengal until a warrior rises from the ranks to save the downtrodden people.
Raktabeej 2
Directed by: Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee
Cast: Abir Chatterjee, Ankush Hazra, Mimi Chakraborty, Victor Banerjee, Koushani Mukherjee
Ankush Hazra’s terrorist Munir Alam faces off against Abit Chatterjee’s intelligence officer Pankaj Singha in Nandita Roy-Shiboprosad Mukherjee-directed Raktabeej 2, also starring Mimi Chakraborty as Sanjukta Mitra, an officer of West Bengal police. A plot to assassinate Animesh Chatterjee, the President of India (played by Victor Banerjee), is afoot as he is on a state visit to Bangladesh. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sultana Rahman (Seema Biswas) is also on the radar of terrorists. What follows is a cat-and-mouse chase as intelligence officer Pankaj and Sanjukta race against time to nab the terrorists.
Devi Chowdhurani
Directed by: Subhrajit Mitra,
Cast: Srabanti Chatterjee, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Darshana Banik, Bibriti Chatterjee, Kinjal Nanda
Devi Chowdhurani is an adaptation of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay’s 1884 novel of the same name. It tells the story of a young woman named Prafulla (Srabanti Chatterjee) who transforms into the legendary bandit queen Devi Chowdhurani. Set in 18th-century Bengal, the film features Prosenjit Chatterjee as Devi Chowdhurani’s mentor Bhavani Pathak.
Joto Kando Kolkatatei
Directed by: Anik Dutta
Cast: Abir Chatterjee, Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed, Roja Paromita Dey, Rik Chattopadhyay, Dulal Lahiri, Mithu Chakraborty, Aparajita Ghosh
A tribute to Satyajit Ray, Anik Dutta’s Joto Kando Kolkatatei follows Saba (Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed), a young woman searching for her biological family. She hires detective Topshe (Abir Chatterjee). Their search takes them across Kolkata’s old houses, cemeteries, churches and even to the hills of North Bengal. Along the way, the bond between Saba and Topshe grows.
OTT
Jawto Kando Kathmandute
Directed by: Srijit Mukherji
Cast: Tota Roy Choudhury, Kalpan Mitra, Anirban Chakrabarti, Kharaj Mukherjee, Bharat Kaul
Billed as Srijit Mukherji’s last OTT adaptation of a Feluda novel, Jawto Kando Kathmandute features Tota Roy Choudhury as Feluda, chasing an illegal drug trade with its roots in Nepal. Anirban Chakrabarti returns as Jatayu and Kalpan Mitra reprises his role as Topse. Kharaj Mukherjee joins the cast as Maganlal Meghraj, one of the most memorable villains from Satyajit Ray’s original stories. Bharat Kaul plays Mr Batra.
Platform: Addatimes
Indu 3
Directed by: Ayan Chakraborty
Cast: Ishaa Saha, Suhotra Mukhopadhyay, Manali Manisha Dey, Manasi Sinha, Payel De, Mimi Dutta, Judhajit Sarkar, Tanika Basu
Created by Sahana Dutta and directed by Ayan Chakraborty, Indu is a story about a woman whose marriage is full of secrets. From finding a poisonous leaf in her wedding paraphernalia to receiving physical threats, everything tries to deter her from entering this marriage, but she does anyway, to find the root of the problem. The third and final season is set to shine light on the underlying mystery of deaths in the previous seasons.
Platform: Hoichoi