Tag: Bengali film

Venkatesh Films releases Bengali film in 270 theatres across nation

MUMBAI: Venkatesh Films has set a record by releasing its Bengali mass film entertainer Challenge-2 in 270 screens across the country.

The film‘s producer Mahendra Soni says,” This is the first time a non-double-version Bengali film has been released in 270 theatres across the country and continues its successful run in the non-niche segment of core viewers outside Bengal.”

Starring Dev, Challenge-2 is being screened in both single screen and multiplexes in Mumbai, in single screens of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, MP and Assam. The occupancy rate is over 60 per cent since the October 19 release. “The response was tremendous in the first three days of the film‘s release,” confides Soni.

Talking of the response of his helmed film, director Raja Chanda observes, “The camera work normally associated with Bollywood entertainers, the glossy look, the sleek stunt shots and the fast paced editing helped in winning the audience, even outside Bengal.”

When will you release the film overseas, “We are planning to screen Challenge-2 abroad for the Indian diaspora by the end of this year,” Soni confirms.

Besides Dev, the cast includes Ashish Vidyarthi, Rajatabha Datta and debutante heroine Puja Bose.

It may be interesting to note that Challenge, the prequel of Challenge-2 was released in Bengal territory only and was a smash hit.

October 30, 2012
Teen Yari Katha releases after 6 years of Censor trauma

MUMBAI: Breaking away from the six-year hitch of not being able to see the light of the day, Prosenjit’s Bengali film Teen Yari Katha (tale of three friends) was released recently.

The film is about three young friends who belong to the suburban middle-class. One plies an auto-rickshaw, one supplies newspapers and so on with similar angst and sexual desires that bond youngsters of their age.

Though the film was screened at the Kolkata Film Festival in 2007 followed by its screening in the competition section of the Osian Film Festival in Delhi in 2009, it could not release because the Censor Board held up its release for its objectionable dialogue filled with slang and brazen sexual innuendos. They refused to pass it even after watching it several times and the directors refused to agree to the cuts suggested by the CBFC.

“We have released 35 prints initially for screening across Kolkata and Bengal because this is a film that does not cater to the rural-urban divide and will appeal to every adult viewer,” said joint directors Sudeshna Roy and Abhijit Guha.

To ascertain that the film doesn’t look dated, the director duo got the colour correction of every single frame done once again. “The film deals with a subject that was far ahead of its time, so in a way perhaps, this six-year delay will prove to be a boon for the film at the box-office,” added Roy.

The film has Parambrato Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee ( both Kahaani fame) and Rudraneel in pivotal roles.

May 8, 2012
Bengali film’s box office collections in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Satya Pictures‘ latest Bengali film Bhooter Bhobishyot, released along with The Avengers and Tezz, has had a decent run at the box office in the four screens across Mumbai that it was made available in.

In a week‘s run, the film has grossed Rs 35,000 per screen, according to trade circles.

Showing the problem of urban displacement, of old houses crumbling to the might of high rises, malls and multiplexes, the film is told through the predicament of resident ghosts.

The film begins with Ayan Sengupta, an ad film director, aspiring to start a feature film and is in search of a good plot. He comes to a haunted mansion, the Chowdhury Palace, to shoot for his upcoming commercial ad film. There he meets Biplab who suggests him a story about ghosts who live together and face the difficulties they have to face in finding a place to live in since all the old buildings are being demolished by real estate developers.

He relates the story of the ghosts in the old mansion and the problem the ghosts faced when a developer wanted to turn it into a shopping mall and how the ghosts solved it.

The film, with its references to caste, communalism, consumerism, urbanisation, love and revolution, takes pot shots at various issues without becoming preachy.

Incidentally, the film, in its seventh week run in Kolkata showing in about 22 theatres has lapped up Rs 36 million in box office revenues.

The producers believe that its collections will soon cross Rs 50 million

May 5, 2012
CBFS prodding has makers change film name

MUMBAI: For the first time, a film‘s title had to be changed because the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFS) had some reservations.

Though it released on 9 March, the makers of the Bengali film Macho Mustafa had to go through prodding times at the hands of the CBFS. The reason: the censoring authority didn‘t like the original title Macho Mastana.

“As the Censor Board expressed reservations about the title, we sought feedback from community leaders and accordingly the name was changed less than a month before the film‘s release,” director Reshmi Mitra has reportedly said.

“We were told that the term ‘Macho‘ cannot be prefixed to God (Allah) and this may hurt religious sentiments,” she explained.

The budget for the film, of which Rs 70 million had already been spent, went up by at least Rs 3 million more on account of frame-by-frame correction in the computer generated imagery (CGI), which was essential.

The budget has further swelled because the correction of shots were done at a Chennai studio, Mitra said. The film‘s old name and logos were displayed in some shots, which had to be changed and the whole title track, with the emblazoned old name, had to be re-recorded after building a new set, she pointed out.

However, things would be better if they were made aware of the title‘s sensitivity beforehand as posters, publicity materials and hundreds of audio CDs bearing the old name had already been printed, she observed.

March 10, 2012