A new Bengali adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s 1916 novel, Ghare Baire (The Home and the World), is in the making and it’s called Ghawre Bairey Aaj.

And the first look of Ghawre Bairey Aaj is out now. Helmed by Aparna Sen, the film will star Jisshu U Sengupta, Anirban Bhattacharya and Tuhina Das in the lead.

The first film adaptation of the book, the same title, was by Academy Award winner Satyajit Ray in 1984, and it went on to become one of the best Bengali classics of all time. Ray’s Ghare Baire featured Soumitra Chatterjee, Victor Banerjee and Swatilekha Sengupta as the three main protagonists on whom the story is centered. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature film in Bengali.

Veteran filmmaker Aparna Sen has come up with a contemporary version of the romantic drama.

Ghawre Bairey Aaj stars Tuhina Das as the main lead- Brinda, a modern take on Bimala, Anirban Bhattacharya-as Nikhilesh, Bimala’s husband and Jisshu will be seen portraying Sandip. The film also stars Sreenanda Shankar and Anjan Dutt in key roles.

Last year, Sen had commented on what prompted her to make a remake of the classic. The actor-director had conceived the idea for the film following activist-journalist, Gauri Lankesh’s murder.

In an interview with TOI, she said, “It was on the night of Gauri Lankesh’s murder. After watching the news, I went to bed shaken to the very core of my being. What is happening to my country, I wondered; why are the voices of reason and moderation being silenced so brutally? That night I dreamt about a young, first-time director — a Satyajit Ray fan — remaking Ghare Baire, set in today’s time. I woke up and realised that director was actually me! Because whenever I make a film, I treat is as my first. And filmmaking makes me feel forever young.”

Ghare Baire, the novel, was set in the turbulent pre-Independent India with characters undergoing changes and being affected by the political climate of Bengal. The domestic relationship between Bimala, Sandip and Nikhilesh is as much affected by the happenings of the outside world.

Sen has incorporated this theme of the original text besides modernizing it. “My film is also about the passionate relationship between Nikhilesh, Bimala and Sandip, but it is set against the turbulent political scenario of today’s India,” she said.

Jisshu will play an angry Leftist student of 22 and later when older will be shown as a nationalist leader. Tuhina Das will play a young Dalit girl, Brinda Chowdhary. Anirban will play a publishing editor of an online progressive and liberal newspaper.

Ghawre Bairey Aaj is Tuhina Das’ second film after Asche Abar Shabar.

Film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared the first look poster of the film.

Inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s novel #GhareBaire… First look poster of Aparna Sen’s new #Bengali film #GhawreBaireyAaj… Stars Jisshu U Sengupta, Anirban Bhattacharya and Tuhina Das… June/July 2019 release. #SVF pic.twitter.com/asdeNtt28C

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) April 15, 2019

The film is slated to release this summer.