After the huge success of Golondaaj, Dev, Dhrubo Banerjee and SVF have come together once again, for the magnum opus Raghu Dakat, a fictional story of 18th century Bengal’s mythical superhero. The fantasy folklore unearths one of the most pertinent chapters of Bengal’s history through an icon who rises to emerge as a legend.
Raghu Dakat is positioned as one of the biggest Bengali films ever in terms of magnanimity and scale, bringing the elements of fantasy and folklore on screen to depict an integral part of the history, culture, and heritage of Bengal. It is an astounding tale of a time of extreme turmoil.
Dev will be moulding himself to play Raghu Dakat. This will be his second collaboration with director Dhrubo Banerjee who has delivered three back-to-back blockbusters, the sensational treasure hunt adventure films Guptodhoner Sandhane and Durgeshgorer Guptodhon, and the recent sports period film Golondaaj, which stormed the box office.
This fantasy folklore as a story is written by Dhrubo himself, targeting the audience across all age groups and social strata.
“This is pretty much what I am trying to achieve in Bengali films, expanding the market at its optimum level, bringing alive the big screen magic with larger-than-life unique regional stories of Bengal backed by modern-day technology, which will offer national scalability. Only then we will be able to create a larger audience base. We may be short on resources, but the zeal to position and align our content at a national level alongside the biggies is worth a try with the treasure of stories and immense talent base that Bengal offers,” said Dhrubo.
Raghu Dakat will go on floors middle of next year.
Dark secrets of the royal household
Ridhima and Anirban in Byomkesh 7: Chorabali
Anirban Bhattacharya and Ridhima Ghosh are back, this time with Arjun Chakrabarty, Ushasi Ray, Chandan Sen joining the cast for a new season of Byomkesh, based on the story Chorabali, on Hoichoi. The story begins as Byomkesh meets Himanshu, on a leisure trip to his zamindar friend Tridip’s ancestral home. Himanshu is also a zamindar of an adjacent land called Chorabali. Himanshu informs Byomkesh about Harinath, who was appointed for teaching Himanshu’s kids. He tells him about Harinath’s disappearance along with some of Himanshu’s important property papers. While staying on the estate, Byomkesh feels particularly intrigued by Kaligoti, the dewan of the estate, and also Radha, a widower. Byomkesh uncovers several clues that suggest a connection between Kaligoti and the disappearance of Harinath. The ensuing story revolves around his unveiling of the culprit behind the mystery and other dark secrets of the royal household. “Byomkesh is a project that will always be close to my heart. It has given me a parallel identity and stepping into the role for the seventh time now is making me reminisce of the time when I first donned the hat of our beloved Satyanweshi. This time, it is another interesting story, Chorabali, that we are bringing for our audience and I believe it will live up to the expectations of every Byomkesh fan,” said Anirban. The new season starts streaming on Hoichoi from today.
“I began my journey as Satyabati in 2017 and I still cannot believe how quickly, with a lot of love from the audience, we reached the seventh season of Byomkesh. I’ll always be thankful to Hoichoi for Satyabati, a character that will remain one of my personal favourites. Now, I am waiting for our audience to watch Byomkesh 7. I hope they shower the same kind of love on us as they have been doing for the last six seasons,” said Ridhima.