After the success of Tonic and Projapoti, Dev Entertainment Ventures and Bengal Talkies have come together for another festive release, Pradhan, set to release on December 22. Team Pradhan recently got together for the film’s poster launch at Nandan on November 10. Directed by Avijit Sen, the film is a family drama that is like a breath of fresh air.
Starring Dev, Paran Bandopadhyay, Soumitrisha Kundu, Biswajit Chakraborty, Tulika Bose, Sabitri Chatterjee, Mamata Shankar, John Bhattacharya, Sneha Bose, Anirban Chakrabarti and Sohini Sengupta, the film’s poster launch unfurled the character’s first look in different attires.
Deepak Pradhan played by Dev appears in a police officer’s costume. “Pradhan is a film that connects many emotions and thoughts of a lot of people in its plot. There’s a police officer named Deepak Pradhan who visits a village and meets the characters, and the film goes on to show whether he can solve the issues they are facing. The entire story revolves around this plot. With a massive cast shooting together, the experience was memorable,” said Dev.
“The subject is taken from the everyday happenings in society... it symbolises the nuances of human relationships. All the characters here are equally important,” said the director.
“It’s a kind of role I haven’t played before and it was a fun challenge to take on,” said Anirban Chakrabarti. Shot amidst the serenity of north Bengal, Pradhan’s poster gives off a feel-good vibe. At the poster launch the team shared how much fun it all was to shoot together, with a team that liked to cherish and celebrate every moment.
“Pradhan is a one-of-a-kind film. We always try to release our films during Christmas holidays and with all the love we got for Tonic and Projapoti, we chose Christmas time for the film’s release,” said producer Atanu Raychaudhuri of Bengal Talkies.
“Subhodeep Das and I started writing the story at the location itself. We used to travel during daytime to look for a neighbourhood with families around and write at night. Family isn’t just about the members, it’s also about the people living in neighbourhoods and we wanted to capture that essence in the film. Despite nuclear family becoming the norm of the generation, neighbours actually make up a joint family. We spotted one neighbourhood that wasn’t on top of the hill but it’s actually surrounded by mountains, and we really loved it. We were there for a long time and gathered ideas from the neighbourhood and their perspectives. So we’ve tried to breathe that into the film,” said Avijit.
“As actors, we almost started our careers together. To go for an outstation shoot is always so much fun. I think the shoot became easier because of the team and we overcame challenges like the heavy rainfall in the area in August. My character is a very important part of the film, because in the movie emotions are the main factor. And it will take you back to the 1980s and even while shooting it, I felt like I’ve gone back to my childhood. Such a Bengali film hasn’t been made in a long time and I think it strikes the right chords on an emotional level,” said Koneenica.
“This is the first time I’m wearing so many ornaments while playing a role. You can spot how many finger rings my character wears, it’s almost like he’s addicted to gold. It’s not just the look that’s out of the box but it’s also his dialect and other attributes that I’ll probably be seen doing for the first time. More than a challenge, I think I found the role very interesting because it’s very different from the roles I’ve done before. I can grow as an actor, only if I step out of my comfort zone and see if I can do justice to the varying characters and roles I’m offered in films. Actors love exploring different layers and shades of characters. I fully got to explore it in this film. I loved working with such an ensemble cast,” said Anirban.
