After the success of Tonic and Projapoti, Bengal Talkies and Dev Entertainment Ventures have delivered another blockbuster with Pradhan. The team recently got together to cut a cake and mark their success at DKS. Directed by Avijit Sen, the film feels like a breath of fresh air as it juxtaposes socially relevant issues with heart-touching stories.
Starring Dev, Paran Bandopadhyay, Soham, Koneenica Banerjee, Soumitrisha Kundu, Biswajit Chakraborty, Tulika Bose, Sabitri Chatterjee, Mamata Shankar, Ambarish Bhattacharya, Sneha Bose, Anirban Chakrabarti, Biswanath Basu and Sohini Sengupta, the film follows Deepak Pradhan (played by Dev), an honest cop who arrives in a North Bengal village that is plagued by various issues and takes charge of the law-and-order situation.
“It is a great feeling as we complete 100 days in theatres. This is a hattrick for us and we’re extremely happy. I’m grateful to the people, and every movie lover who made this happen. We have faith in each other and as a team, we put in a lot of thought to make a film. We’ve been honest to our profession and our passion shows in our work. Pradhan is all about ‘entertainment’, ‘entertainment’, and ‘entertainment’. I had a great time during the shoot... and yes it was both risky and adventurous when Soham and I rode the bike in the mountains. There was a huge cast and we had so much fun after our pack-up. We enjoyed ourselves, sang together and made many memories. Pradhan is a film that connects many emotions and thoughts of a lot of people,” said Dev.
The team cuts a cake
Subhodeep Das and Avijit Sen started writing the story at the location itself. They would travel during the daytime to look for a neighbourhood with families around and write at night. “A 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 the 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. I think every team needs an understanding within itself and the three of us along with the other cast and crew members of Pradhan had it. We tried to portray what the people of our society, parents, and family members want to watch on the big screen in our film. We managed to put together a plot and storyline that people crave in Bengal, which is why we completed 100 days. It feels great and I’m thankful to the people of Bengal and those who watch Bangla cinema,” said director Avijit Sen.
Avijit Sen and Atanu Raychaudhuri
He believes that filmmaking is a continuous process and so is building a script that is borne out of an idea. “We’ve discussed, analysed and learnt from each other and we’ve created new things every moment. The chemistry we share is great and there isn’t any boundary. It’s like we’re a family,” he added.
“A Bengali film completing a century in the current times will inspire people to make more such films that will have the potential to achieve the same,” said producer Atanu Raychaudhuri. Talking about his memories, he said, “From python to cheetah to the serenity of the hills, shooting in North Bengal was adventurous for our team and we came back with countless memorable moments.”
Soumitrisha Kundu is excited because her first film completed 100 days. “It is a huge thing for me. I had only gratitude for being a part of this film. God made this happen and people’s love too. I feel so lucky that my Bengali big-screen debut achieved such a success. Being the youngest in the lot is fun, I was protected. I got so much love and adoration from the rest of the cast members on set, it will forever remain etched in my memory,” she said.
Soumitrisha
Mamata Shankar felt that the team knew magic. “The beauty of Pradhan is that anyone can watch it with their families. Probably one of the reasons why we completed 100 days in the theatres is because both kids and their parents could watch it together in the movie halls. Pradhan is a beautiful creation for families to enjoy together. The entire experience of shooting the film together at such a beautiful location in North Bengal made the experience even more memorable,” said Mamata Shankar.
Mamata Shankar
“In the age of OTT, a Bengali film has run for more than 100 days in the theatres... that is a huge thing. I feel blessed to be a part of this project,” said Sneha Bose.
