Nandita Das?s bond with Bengal is on the route to revival. The actress who was missed on the Bengali screen after Mrinal Sen?s Amaar Bhuvan and Rituparno Ghosh?s Shubho Mahurat is returning to Tollywood next month.

In Padakhkhep by debutant director Suman Ghosh, Nandita plays daughter to Soumitra Chatterjee. The cast also includes Tota Roy Chowdhury and June. Nandita (picture right) will stay put for a 16-day shoot in the city.

The film unfolds in three parallel stories, though intertwined with each other. The first centres around the souring relationship between the retired Shashanka Palit (played by Soumitra) and his daughter; the second trails his growing attachment with a child, Trisha, who has returned to the city with her parents from the US; the third revolves around Trisha?s parents (Tota and June).

The pivot of Padakhkhep is the growing friendship between two people of vastly different ages. The bond developing between Palit and Trisha during their walks in the park or to her drawing classes helps the ageing man grapple with the harsh realities of life.

?The film also explores the generation gap through the rift between the father and the daughter. Shashanka Palit can?t accept the fact that his daughter is in love with a Muslim boy. So there?s a clash and she deserts her father,? says producer Nitesh Sharma, who heads Bangla Talkies that had produced the horror film Raat Barota Panch directed by Sharon Dutta.

?Padakhkhep is entirely different from Raat Barota Panch and is aimed at the multiplex audiences. The budget is also higher than the other film. Though Suman is a newcomer he is planning a different treatment for the subject,? adds Nitesh.

The director is a Florida-based lecturer in economics who has made documentaries and has also written the screenplay of Padakhkhep.

In the first schedule, the crew has shot portions on the Maidan, in a hospital and several other spots across town.

The team will move indoors ? to an apartment or the studios ? for the second schedule.