Bengali film in America

The first Bengali film shot in America is going to be Raj Basu’s Piyalir Password. Shooting in US locations has been completed early November, and one may perhaps look forward to a Nababarsha release.

Director Raj Basu, himself a US resident, an NRB (non-resident Bengali), was an engineer and a computer professional in that order, before choosing to do film courses in Hollywood. His first full-length feature film, Wings of Hope in 2003, starring Roshan Seth and Deepti Naval among others was reasonably successful.

Piyalir Password, a murder mystery, presumably Raj’s second feature film, has good lineup in the cast, including Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Rituparna Sengupta and Rupa Gangopadhyay. There are of course actors from US, and also from Russia and Bangladesh.

If Piyalir Password is the first Bengali film shot in US, Aniruddha Ray Chowdhury’s Anuronon is the first Bengali film shot in London. Adding to that list is perhaps another first, Sandip Ray’s Tintorettor Jishu, a Satyajit Ray’s Feluda thriller, whose major portion is shot in Hong Kong.

Sandip Ray’s Bombaiyer Bombete is still fresh in mind, and one hopes Tintorettor Jishu, which centers around mysterious disappearance of a painting of 16th century Italian painter, Tintoretto, will be another clincher.

Tintorettor Jishu was to have released this month, but perhaps a later release is now scheduled. Cine-lovers like me are eagerly looking forward to Bengali films of foreign locales. If these films succeed on box office, may be we can feast on many more Bengali films in coming days.

Even as today’s ABP says that Switzerland Tourism is trying to attract Tollywood filmmakers, film-buffs know locales do matter in order to attract viewers. Which is why, apart from masalas, Hindi films now-a-days are nearly always shot in picturesque environs. Needless to say, so too are Hollywood films.

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