Right now, most of us have already started counting down to Mahalaya, the day that announces the ‘Season of the Goddess’ is officially on. The planet we live on has travelled around the sun over the past 12 months and Devi Paksha is once again just around the corner. You feel the intense cultural and spiritual vibes as you watch pandals nearing completion and everyone discussing what to the buy, what to wear, what to gift.
Through it all, a bunch of Bangla (Tollywood) films were released in August’25. When it comes to a regional film buff, there’s truly nothing better than a film in your own language, is there? Camongo has the overview of films that were released and are running in theatres right now –
Dhumketu – Dhumketu is a intense story woven around love and loss against the backdrop of war and extremism. It shows how the lead characters, Bhanu and Rupa somehow try to survive even in the face of destruction, doing their best to balance their unspoken love for one another and commitment to their individual families. Dhumketu is directed by Kaushik Ganguly. Rana Sarkar Rasa and Dev Adhikari are the Producers. The leading cast has Dev Adhikari, Subhashree Ganguly, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Chiranjeet Chakraborty, and Rudranil Ghosh.
Bela – A biographical film about a pioneering radio personality at Akashvani Kolkata, Bela Dey, the film has Rituparna Sengupta in the eponymous role. It dwells upon how Bela reinvents herself in England after her husband`s abandonment and returns to India going on to create the empowering and hugely popular radio show ‘Mahila Mahal’. With her powerful and resonant voice, Bela Dey spoke with empathy on a hundred topics that impacted women and the show by Akashvani Bangla became a cult favourite which impacted millions of women. Bela Dey’s resilience and soul connection with her women listeners is brought out beautifully by Rituparna Sengupta. Directed by Anilava Chatterjee and also starring Biswajit Chakraborty, Debdut Ghosh, Debapratim Dasgupta, Manasi Sinha, Bhaswar Chatterjee, the film honours Bela`s legacy in Bengali media and contribution to AIR.
Bahurup – Bahurup tells us the story of Abhimanyu Banerjee, an actor, who descends into the darkness of his roles. In the maddening and often frustrating search for his true self, Abhimanya gets lost in the mesmerizing world of countless characters of the parallel world that he lives in as an actor. The film stars Soham Chakraborty, Idhika Paul, Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, Debolina Dutta, Bharat Kaul, Loknath Dey, Vaskar Dutta among others. Aakash Malakar is the Director and Writer. The Screenplay is also by Malakar. Bahurup is produced by Susanta Biswas and Chandan Kanti Sarkar.
Gauri- Gauri, the film, holds up a mirror to the social fabric of our times. The story throws up the complexities of human values, the stress and strain of human bonds and relationships, and the emerging social unrest. In the rush of modern life, where each one of us tends to focus on immediate needs, the film forces us to consider the rapidly changing society that we live in. The film is directed by Prosenjit Halder and is produced by Pradip Dutta, Pritilata Biswas, Lalita Biswas, and LPD Production. Aryann Bhowmik, Priyanka Bhattacharjee, Bristi Biswas, Chandan Sen, Paran Bandyopadhyay, Satakshi Nandi, Sanjib Sarkar and others make up the cast of Gauri.
How are you Feroz? Set in Kolkata, ‘How are you Feroz?’ is about the love story of Feroz, who’s an antique art dealer obsessed about his work. Antique art dealers have their own deeply moving stories to tell and Feroz’s is no different. His journey reflects his deep connection to art, the pathos of unrequited love, the sense of insecurity that stems from a fear of loss, and the eventual harmony and peace that emerge from reciprocity. The film has Rupsha Guha as its Director and Producer and Aryann Bhowmik, Schiraaz Tangsalwallah, Ratnasree Dutta, Ashok Vishwanathan and his daughter, Anusha Vishwanathan, among the lead cast members.
Saralakkho Holmes – A thoroughly interesting plot featuring a young Bengali detective who is out and about in the city of London discovering facets of a century-old legend of a deadly hound. During his quest, he goes on to uncover dark secrets and some very unlikely suspects. Saralakkho Holmes is in a race against time to solve the mystery before more lives are lost. Rishav Basu plays Saralakkho Holmes. Arna Mukhopadhyay, Saheb Chatterjee, Shataf Figar, Kanchan Mullick, Rajnandini Paul, and Gaurav Chakraborty play important roles in this film directed by Sayantan Ghosal and produced by Ashok and Himanshu Dhanuka.
Inputs by Neha Karmakar
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