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The tanned look

Rituparna and Shilajit at the Phera launch party. Picture by Aranya Sen

Partha Sarathi Joarder, who made the sleaze film Premrog early this year, is on to his next, Phera. But Joarder has chosen a more sober topic for this film starring Rituparna Sengupta and Shilajit.

Phera is about “love, separation and sacrifice” where Rituparna plays a tribal woman.

“This is the first time I will play a tribal woman and it’s a very interesting role. I will have a tanned look; the make-up and hair will be very different too,” said Rituparna at the Phera launch party on Wednesday evening. “I am very busy back in Mumbai. I have Anup Das’s Dil Ke Armaan with Divya Dutta coming up. It’s about surrogate motherhood,” she added.

Phera will be Rituparna’s second film opposite Shilajit after Dwitiya Basanta.

The Rs 65-lakh film goes on the floor on September 24. It will be shot in Bolpur, Mython and Calcutta.

Dance like them

ETV Bangla’s celebrity dance contest Ritur Mela Jhoom Tara Ra Ra, which is in wrap-up mode, is gearing up for a second season. This time, a celebrity will be paired with a commoner.

The new show Ritur Mela Jhoom Tara Ra Ra Juti will have eight special contestants — Koneenica Banerjee, Sohini Sanyal, Ananya, Rimjhim Mitra (picture right), Rana Mitra, Sagnik, Yash Dasgupta and Muffin Chakraborty.

They will choose their partner after a three-round screening for which 32 people have auditioned.

The judges will be the same as in the mother show — Prabhat Roy, Tanushree Shankar and Indrani Dutta.

If Shefali Zariwala was the star attraction at the Ritur Mela Jhoom Tara Ra Ra launch, Part 2 will have Jaya Prada, Hema Malini, Helen and Prabhu Deva.

The hour-long programme, directed by Shiboprasad Mukherjee, will be aired from October 11 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 9.30pm.

Ritur Mela Jhoom Tara Ra Ra is in the semi-final rounds with Ananya, Rimjhim Mitra and Monami Ghosh. They have knocked out Abhishek Chatterjee, Soumili Biswas, Sonali Chowdhury, Debleena Dutt, Rishi Kaushik, Suman Banerjee, Koushiki, Debdut Ghosh and Sagnik. The final show airs on September 27.