Prosenjit: Wish to see Bengali films scale new heights

Prosenjit Chatterjee, Subhrajit Mitra and Sham Kaushal

In recent years, regional films have taken centre-stage, with the success of south movies showing that a strong story has a pan-India appeal. Encouraged by this, director Subhrajit Mitra is attempting his first pan-India Bengali movie, Devi Chowdhurani, which is based on the novel of the same name by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. The big-budget historical drama stars Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, Srabanti Chatterjee and Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, and has Bollywood action director Sham Kaushal designing the stunts.

Mitra, whose Avijatrik (2021) won the National Award for Best Bengali Feature Film, says that his period drama borrows as much from Chattopadhyay's novel as it does from historical events. He says, "The novel narrates the journey of a village girl who eventually becomes the first Indian woman freedom fighter, in the later part of the 18th century. Bhavani Charan Pathak led the first armed revolution by Indians against the East India Company." When reimagining the story, he could only envision Prosenjit as Pathak, a Hindu monk who took up arms to save his land.

It was a no-brainer to be part of the grand period drama, says the superstar. "I was fascinated with the film's mounting and visualisation. This is an ambitious project. With this, I wish to see Bengali films scale new heights." Chakrabarty, who plays zamindar Haraballabh Rai - the character that sets into motion the chain of events - says, "After reading the script, I wanted to be associated with it."

Claiming that it will be the most expensive Bengali film to date, director Mitra adds that the principal shoot will be conducted after the monsoon. The movie will be shot in Bengali, and dubbed in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Action director Kaushal is naturally excited about his maiden Bengali project. "Today, there is no such [demarcation] as regional cinema or Hindi cinema. Emotions are universal, and people across the world [connect with] a good story," he says.

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