Parambrata Chatterjee, Bickram Ghosh, Anjan Dutt, Arindam Sil, Mamata Shankar and Shayan Munshi at the special preview of The Bong Connection at the Star theatre on Sunday evening. Picture by Aranya Sen

By the time Usha Uthup chanted Ong Bong chong to Anjan Dutt’s Tumi na thakle and the closing credits crawled up on the new screen at Star theatre, The Bong Connection had been made, and quite clearly. The special preview of the film on Sunday evening, which turned out to be a star-studded premiere of sorts, touched both Bengalis and non-Bengalis in ways they found difficult to translate into words.

What would explain Harsh Neotia, Ram Ray, Sanjay Budhia, Rahul Todi, Zulfikar Hassan and mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya being equally ecstatic about a film which talks about the new Bengali? They all agreed that movies like The Bong Connection are the need of the hour — to bridge the ever-widening gap with Bollywood, to stop pondering over the past and celebrate the present, to stop glorifying the old and champion the young.

A major percentage of the cast saw the film for the first time with the Dolby print being made only late last month. The two leading men, Shayan Munshi and Parambrata Chatterjee, were there looking distinctly different from their screen avatars. Both sported glasses with Parambrata donning a special goatee — and one ear stud — for Kaushik Ganguly’s new mega-serial.

While the leading ladies — Raima Sen and Peeya Rai Choudhari — were conspicuous by their absence, the supporting cast comprising Mamata Shankar, Biswajit Chakraborty, Saswata Chatterjee, Barun Chanda and Mir were all there at Star.

Screen veterans like Dhritiman Chatterjee and Aparna Sen were there to wish writer-director Anjan Dutt, looking cool in a white T-shirt. Also spotted were the men of music. Bickram Ghosh, who has a delightful cameo in the movie and the soundtrack, was present with wife Jaya Seal Ghosh. Chandrabindoo’s Anindya, drummers Chirodeep Lahiri and Ratul Shankar all made it to the screening. The Bong Connection music composer Neel Dutt was seen soaking in the praise during the interval.

Executive producer and also a member of the ensemble cast Arindam Sil was more than happy to usher in the guests which also included a lot of known faces from Tollywood like Dipankar De, Dolon Ray and Tota Roy Chowdhury. Hero number one Prosenjit couldn’t make it because he was in Hyderabad but wife Arpita turned up and she “loved the film”. PR veteran Rita Bhimani made a fashionably late entry.

Crossing continents and lives in the Great Big Bengali Family, The Bong Connection manages to serve some true blue machher jhol and does well to squeeze in that tangy smack of lime. As theatre stalwart Dolly Basu was overheard saying: “Some things are needed to be told and this film does that and beyond.”

Lage raho Bangali!