Piku: "Don't tell anyone in Mumbai, but Piku is actually a Bengali film in Hindi," Shoojit Sircar had conspiratorially told t2 in the run-up to the release of his made-in-Calcutta film.

Bela Sheshe: The sentimental story of a post-retirement Bengali couple, with Satyajit Ray's Ghare-Baire pair of Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta in the lead after 30 years.

Kadambari: A slice of Rabindranath Tagore's life, and as Bengali as Bengali can get.

Suddenly, all things Bengali is the flavour of the box office and not even a monster-budget Bolly blockbuster by the name of Bombay (Velvet) can slow down that surge.

Bela Sheshe set the ball rolling on May 1 with Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay-Nandita Roy basing their film on the Kajal Chakraborty play Bela Sheshe Kolahal, revolving around Soumitra's character wanting to break free from his mundane middle-class life in the autumn of his life. "A lot of experimental films are happening in Tollywood, but simple, heart-warming family dramas are also needed. Nobody is watching Bela Sheshe alone... they are going with family members or friends. They are even giving their favourite daily soaps a miss to catch our film in the evening. The total collection is already Rs 1.5 crore, on a Rs 1 crore budget. It's our best so far... even Ramdhanu did not do so well," said Shiboprosad.

If a family drama on a tight budget has worked wonders for Bela Sheshe, Bengal's biggest icon is bringing in the crowds for Suman Ghosh's Kadambari from May 8. "Going by the collections of Bela Sheshe and Kadambari, 2015 finally looks good for Tollywood. Even on weekdays, there is 100 per cent occupancy for Bela Sheshe," said Arijit Dutta of Priya Cinema, who is also the distributor for Bela Sheshe.

At the multiplexes, too, Bela Sheshe — starring Rituparna Sengupta, Monami Ghosh and Indrani Dutta apart from the Soumitra-Swatilekha pairing — and Kadambari — starring Konkona Sensharma in the title role and Parambrata Chattopadhyay as Rabindranath — are going strong.

“Both Bela Sheshe, in its third week, and Kadambari, in its second week, are recording sizeable footfall, even during weekdays. Kadambari, being a relatively newer release, has a slight edge today in terms of numbers,” said Subhasis Ganguli, regional director (east) INOX. 

The success of Kadambari has surprised even its director — pleasantly, of course. “Kadambari is a hit and I’m pleasantly surprised. It released in 40 theatres across Bengal, and now we’ll expand it, ” said Suman Ghosh, the maker of Padakkhep and Nobel Chor.

“Bela Sheshe is also doing great at the box office. This is heartening for the future of the industry. We were being told only Bengali thrillers were doing well, but the amazing box-office figures of both these family dramas are most encouraging. The films are drawing family members to the theatres in droves,” he added.

What the success of Bela Sheshe and Kadambari also does is throw a lifeline to producers desperately seeking a profit-making formula in a beleaguered industry.

“I don’t think too many directors in Tollywood make films that cater to the family audience. We incorporate a lot of Bangaliana in our films.... Bela Sheshe’s third-week collection is better than any other Bengali films released this year,” said Atanu Roy Chowdhury co-producer.

“My instincts told me that this film would work and we are very happy with the response. The film was made on a budget of around Rs 2 crore and we have already earned Rs 70 lakh in 10 days. The success of Kadambari encourages us to produce a variety of films, including commercial blockbusters,” said Rakesh Singh of Vignesh Films.
And then there is... Piku. The Bolly challenge to the Tolly box-office show comes in the form of Bhaskor Banerji (Amitabh Bachchan) and his very Bangali obsession with his bowel movements that dominates his relationship with daughter Piku (Deepika Padukone). Shoojit Sircar’s quirky yet sensitive take on many things quintessentially Bengali and Calcutta — and with music by Tolly favourite Anupam Roy — is drawing loud laughs and some sniffles at packed halls around town.

“At our South City property alone, Piku recorded seven houseful shows on Sunday. It’s going from strength to strength with each passing day,” said Ganguli of INOX. 

Mumbai-based trade analyst Taran Adarsh attributes the success of Piku to Sircar’s “clean and simple storytelling” and top acts from its A-list cast of Amitabh, Deepika and Irrfan Khan. “Piku has already earned more than Rs 60 crore in India and at Rs 27 crore, it is 2015’s biggest Bolly hit overseas. The footfall has grown just on the basis of word-of-mouth. With Bombay Velvet failing miserably, Piku looks set to dominate for at least another week,” said Adarsh.

And Shoojit is another Bengali director who is most pleasantly surprised. “I knew people would like it, but I never thought people would go crazy about it... that they would shower us with a tsunami of compliments,” he said.