Three years after Bibar with Tannishtha Chatterjee and Subrat Dutta, Subrata Sen is getting behind the camera with an adaptation of Sunil Gangopadhyay’s novella Kobi Nartaki.

The film will star Rituparna Sengupta and Swastika Mukherjee together for the first time.

Gangopadhyay’s story is about a poet and his muse, set in the Eighties, but Subrata’s film (tentatively titled Kobi Nartaki) will have a young man flipping for a famous heroine.

“A man with a steady girlfriend falls in love with this actress, to be played by Rituparna Sengupta. Swastika plays the girlfriend and we are yet to decide on the actor. The film revolves around these three characters.... It’s a very musical film. I haven’t really done a musical except for Nil Nirjane,” says Subrata, who has been penning his own stories all this while for the Unish Kuri magazine.

“Though Sunil Gangopadhyay’s story is set in the 1980s, I found it relevant and contemporary. Besides, it’s very mainstream too,” he adds.

Rituparna is looking forward to slipping into her character. “I found the story very exciting. Besides, I am in the pivotal role of an actress,” she said.

Produced by Zee Motion Pictures, Kobi Nartaki will be shot in Calcutta and Darjeeling. Debojyoti Mishra will compose six songs for the film.

Life begins at 18

Mainak Bhaumick, who had made Tollywood’s first sex comedy Aamra in 2006, is returning to the director’s chair with the English film 18. His second ’09 project is Maach Misti & More: The Bong Connection 2, but at the moment it’s 18 that’s keeping Mainak on his toes.

“18 follows the life of some 18-year-olds in a cosmopolitan city. It’s a coming-of-age film revolving around five friends, it’s about how they discover themselves. It’s in the vein of Hyderabad Blues but it’s not a copy. 18 is brash and open about sexuality,” says Mainak.

The cast is yet to be decided; Mainak is in talks with Lilette Dubey’s younger daughter Ira. Bangla Talkies will produce 18. Shooting begins in end-February.

“18 will have many comic moments and I want to make it in English because I believe that today’s 18-year-olds speak and connect in English,” he adds. The 28-year-old has so long been busy on the edit table for Anjan Dutt’s Chalo... Let’s Go and Chowrasta.

Kushali Nag

Clapboy!: Sudeshna Roy and Abhijeet Guha’s Cross Connection rolled on the floors with a surprise. Tollywood star Prosenjit turned up to give the first clap on the first day of the shoot! “Bumba (Prosenjit) has supported us since the time we entered the film industry. I wanted him to act in my film but he is too busy. He agreed to give the first clap for our film,” beamed Sudeshna. Cross Connection is a romantic comedy starring Rimjhim Mitra, Ritwick Bhattacharya, Abir Chatterjee and Payel Sarkar. It marks the Tollywood debut of the Mumbai-based art direction firm Acropolis Entertainment. “We plan to do good, urban, fun films in Bengali. Talks are on with other Tollywood directors,” said Sumit Basu of Acropolis.