Summer special

Chalo Let’s Go…

Starring: Parambrata, Aparajita, Saswata, Ritwick, Sunita, Dhruv, Bidipta, Churni, Kaushik, Rudranil, Koneenica, Neel, Arindam and Barun Chanda.

Directed by: Anjan Dutt

Produced by: Optima Films

Releases on: June 6

Shot in: Calcutta and Darjeeling.

The story: After failing as a music band, four friends start a travel agency. They make a trip to Darjeeling with 10 travellers. The journey, full of twists and turns, is what makes the movie.

Directorspeak: “I wanted to do a modern Bengali film laced with humour. Chalo Let’s Go... has all kinds of Bengalis — the older generation, the younger generation, the middle class Bengali, the NRI bongs and the yuppie Bengali. Bengalis enjoy travelling together and there’s everything Bengalis love to do,” says Anjan.

Tidbit: Chalo Let’s Go... pays tribute to the cinema of the Sixties and Seventies in more ways than one. Apart from the Saptapadi track Ei path jodi na shesh hoy, Dutt has named his four main boys after the four protagonists in Satyajit Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri — Ashim, Shekhar, Hari and Sanjoy.

Goalmaal

Starring: Prosenjit, Jisshu Sengupta, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Priyanka Trivedi, Varsha Priyadarshini and Namrata

Directed by: Swapan Saha

Produced by: T Sarkar Productions

Releases on: June 6

Shot in: Calcutta and Siliguri.

The story: A comedy of errors and mistaken identity. Prosenjit and Tota are brothers, while Jisshu is in love with their only sister Varsha. Then Tota falls for Namrata, who develops a soft corner for Prosenjit, who in turn is in love with Priyanka.

Producerspeak: “We have very high expectations from the film. There are some very good songs and the plot is hilarious,” says producer Vinayak Sarkar.

Tidbit:While shooting at Milan More in Siliguri, the team had to turn off most of the lights at night. The actors were advised not to sit inside the red make-up van. The reason? Fear of elephants!

Bajimaat

Starring: Soham, Subhashree, Ranjit Mullick and Soumili Biswas

Directed by: Haranath Chakraborty

Produced by: Pijush Saha

Releases on: June 6

Shot in: Calcutta.

The story: It’s about middle class boy Shubhro who dreams of making it big as a singer and wins a talent hunt contest. Then, boy meets girl, who too is a wannabe singer.
Directorspeak: “The subject of Bajimaat demanded new faces. The film is about talent hunt shows. I am sure the film will catapult Soham and Subhashree to stardom,” says Haranath.

Tidbit: Soham was once a child artiste; he was Mamata Shankar and Dipankar De’s son in Satyajit Ray’s Shakha Proshakha. Subhashree had won the Anandalok Nayikar Khonje contest.

Via Darjeeling

Starring: Kay Kay Menon, Sonali Kulkarni, Parvin Dabas, Rajat Kapoor, Sandhya Mridul, Vinay Pathak, Simone Singh and Prroshant Narayannan

Directed by: Arindam Nandy

Produced by: Moxie Entertainments

Releases on: June 20

Shot in: Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Calcutta.

The story: Ankur (Kay Kay) and Rimli (Sonali) are in Darjeeling for their honeymoon but just as they are soaking in the scenic beauty, the husband goes missing. Each of the couple’s friends has his or her version of Kay Kay’s vanishing act.

Producerspeak: “After the success of The Bong Connection, I wanted to take bigger risks with our second film and so targeted the national audience.... Via Darjeeling is a thriller that will leave the audience grappling for answers. You wouldn’t know who the culprit is till the end,” says Joy Ganguly of Moxie.

Tidbit: Via Darjeeling was supposed to be made in Bengali; it was titled Ashare Goppo then. It was later changed to Via Darjeeling and made in Hindi.

Khela

Starring: Prosenjit, Manisha Koirala, Raima Sen, Shankar Chakraborty and Akashneel Dutta Mukherjee

Directed by: Rituparno Ghosh

Produced by: Saregama Films

Releases on: June 27

Shot in: Calcutta and Chalsa.

The story: Prosenjit is a busy filmmaker who has no time for wife Manisha. A lonely Manisha craves for a child; her husband thinks otherwise. But things take a turn when Prosenjit starts shooting a film with a child actor.

Actorspeak: “Khela is very close to my heart. It’s a male-oriented film, something that’s unusual from Rituparno, whose films are known to be centred around women. Khela is great fun; it’s for everyone — the young and the old,” says Prosenjit.

Tidbit: Initially produced by Rituparno Ghosh Productions and financed by Pritish Nandy Communications, Khela has been stuck at the release line for the past three years.

Kushali Nag
(Which of these films would you want to watch and why? Tell t2@abpmail.com)