Dev and Subhashree: the lead pair of challenge

Raj Chakraborty loves challenges. So, after stunning Tollywood with his directorial debut Chirodini... Tumi Je Aamar, a tragic love story, Raj has changed track. No wonder his next is called Challenge, an action film spiked with comedy, starring Dev and Subhashree.
“I wanted to do something completely different after Chirodini and Challenge is indeed different. It’s an action comedy. My next film may be a sex comedy or a film revolving around children. I want to prove my versatility. I don’t want to be stuck in the same genre,” he explains.

Challenge is about two college-goers who fall in love and Raj doesn’t want to spill the beans.

The film’s eye-catcher is Dev, who’s getting a makeover for his role of a headstrong youth. “Challenge is Dev’s film in every way. He has worked out and shed a few kilos. I had made up my mind to cast him in my next film when he did the item number for Chirodini. He is a very passionate actor. So is Subhashree. I wanted a tall heroine opposite Dev, with an innocent face. We went in for a make-up test and she looked perfect,” says Raj.

The crew coup is cinematographer Somak Mukherjee, who was Subhash Ghai’s cinematographer in Black & White. “Technically, Challenge will match up to any Bollywood film. So we needed somebody from Mumbai. We are shooting with a hi-tech camera and the film will have all the gloss and shine,” promises the 33-year-old director.

“We will shoot a song sequence at one of the studios in Mumbai. It’s an item number and the kind of light and set that I was looking for could not be recreated in Tollywood,” adds the low-key Raj, currently shooting the film in Calcutta.

For a few scenes and songs, the team will fly to Australia and New Zealand. Challenge is being financed by Shree Venkatesh Films.