The Bengali film industry should take a leaf out of its Telugu counterpart’s handbook to ensure regular commercial releases outside West Bengal, said star actor Abir Chatterjee. Recalling that moviegoers in Kolkata were regularly queueing up to watch Telugu films, Chatterjee rued that Bengali films often fail to get commercial releases outside Bengal. The actor was present at the opening ceremony of Aayna 2025 – the annual Telangana Bengali Film Festival on 7 and 8 February at Prasad Labs, Banjara Hills. Eight well-acclaimed Bengali films and a documentary were screened in the three-day-long festival to the delight of the movie buffs.

Srijit Mukherjee’s biopic on Mrinal Sen, Padatik, Pratim D Gupta’s thriller Chaalchitro – The Frame Fatale, Manasi Sinha’s Eta Amader Golpo, Sayan Bandyopadhyay’s Doaansh, Nana Hee by Sayan Bandyopadhay and Anjanabha Roy, Abhinandan Banerjee’s Manikbabur Megh and Samik Roy Choudhury’s psychological neo-noir Beline were screened. The sole documentary was Suman Ghosh’s Parama, celebrating actor turned trailblazer filmmaker Aparna Sen. Two Telugu films, Chandra Sekhar Rathod’s Gangster and Kumara Swamy’s Sharathulu Varthisthai were also screened, as a part of the festival. Paying tribute to noted director Shyam Benegal who passed away last year, the committee selected two of his films, Suraj ka Satvan Ghoda and Junoon – for screening. Actor Abir Chatterjee received the ‘Superstar of the Year’ award from the festival committee. His film Deep Fridge was one of the biggest draws of the festival.

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Chatterjee emphasised the crucial role played by such film festivals in popularising Bengali cinema across the world. However, as he conceded, “We need to solidify the regular commercial releases and we are trying. We need to learn from the Telugu film industry. He pointed out that these days people queue up to watch Telugu films like Pushpa in Kolkata as well. “We need to commercialise and reach out more so that more people can watch our films. Films can break language and geographical barriers.” This was echoed by Firdausul Hasan, the producer of Padatik. Asked why Bengali films were often relegated to weekdays and non-peak showtime Hasan rued: “Whenever there was a big banner release in Hyderabad our films often fail to get precedence.” However, he harped on the need to produce better content sometimes even at the cost of the bottom line. Asked why he chose to produce Padatik, he said not everything was about profit margin, there was also a need to build an identity.

At the opening ceremony, Harikrishna Mamidi, the director of the department of language and culture, recalled the deep bond between Telugu and Bengali Films. Actor-director Dhirendranath Ganguly was the pioneer who established Lotus Film Company in Hyderabad and went on to set up a film studio as well as two cinema halls, paving the way for the abiding bond between cinema and Telugu audience. Mamidi also referred to popular novelist Saratchandra Chattopadhyay whose novels were translated and adapted into Telugu films as well as other popular Bengali films that were remade in Telugu in the 1950s-60s. However, the trend has reversed in recent times with remakes of Telugu films in Bengali. Padmashree awardee OBE and renowned surgeon Dr Raghuram Pillarisetti and Jayesh Ranjan IAS, special chief secretary of industry and commerce and IT department also graced the inauguration ceremony. TBFF is organised annually by Hyderabad Bangalee Samity, one of the oldest and largest associations of the thriving Bengali community in the twin cities. It draws a good footfall, particularly because the audience gets a chance to meet their stars up close, indulge in fanboy moments, and even click a few selfies.

Last but not least, a key attraction of the festival this time was an exhibition on Mahanayak Uttam Kumar curated by Indranil Chowdhuri as we are about to step into the centenary year of the actor. The exhibition displayed a large collection of tomes on the Mahanayak, magazines with Uttam Kumar on the cover, 207 booklets of his films, and 145 DVDs of his films. Indranil Chowdhuri, an alumnus of Jadavpur University, had painstakingly built up this collection over the years, but it was during the time of the pandemic that he turned his hobby into a collection. Uttam Kumar acted in 208 Bengali films and nine Hindi movies and his fans are spread across three generations, even four. The exhibition was inaugurated by Abir Chatterjee who spent considerable time going over the memorabilia that were on display.

The writer is the special correspondent of The Statesman