The Bong Connection

• The Bengali dream
• The film will dwell on NRI Bengalis who have settled abroad and Bengalis in India
• Shooting will be in Calcutta and in Houston
  
  Anjan Dutt:
  

  “Why can only Punjabis and Gujaratis make crossover cinema,” asks an animated Anjan, referring to the Monsoon Weddings and Bend It Like Beckhams. “We have to admit that we Bengalis are stuck and it’s high time we came out of this. We can’t just keep hanging on to Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray. They are greats, but they are not the last people from here. We have to go out there and express ourselves.”

  And that’s what Anjan’s new film wants to do. Produced by Joy B. Ganguly under his Moxie India banner, the untitled venture in English examines the Bengali and his Bengaliness. “It was, in fact, Joy’s idea and I just loved it the moment he narrated it to me,” reveals Anjan. “Having lived in the US, he’s seen how a Bengali community lives there and how attitudes change with every generation. So we have spun a script around that and tried to look at the two worlds — here and there.”

Sen sisters in English flick
By: Vickey Lalwani
The Mid Day
October 22, 2005

Riya and Raima Sen will come together for the first time in an English film, The Bong Connection (working title), to be directed by Anjan Dutt, but will not have any scenes together. The sisters earlier starred together in Bachelor, which never released.

Produced by Joy Ganguly, the film will also star Victor Banerjee, Shyan Munshi and newcomer Param Datta.

Ganguly has been associated with events, documentaries and corporate films. “My main goal was to do full length feature films. We start the film on January 26; just about ten per cent of the dialogues will be in Bengali.”

Character specialist

Anjan will start shooting the Calcutta leg of the film before flying off to Houston for the US schedule.

Riya’s portions will be shot in March. When contacted, Raima confirmed, “Yes, my sister Riya and I are doing this film. Anjan is like family to us. My mother and Riya have worked with him before. I did a few telefilms for him… he writes very good characters.”

Riya’s comic turn

We contacted Riya, who said, “Unlike Raima, who will play the traditional Bengali in Kolkata, I will be the confused girl and provide comic relief. It is great that finally, Raima and I will be seen in the same film. It would have been great if we had some scenes together.”

Says Dutt, who directed Bada Din (Shabana Azmi, Marc Robinson, Tara Deshpande, Irrfan Khan), “It Joy’s idea and I just loved it the moment he narrated it to me. The film will dwell on Bengalis in India, and Bengalis who have settled abroad. We have had films of Panjus and Gujjus, like Bend it like Beckham and Monsoon Wedding — now it’s time for the Bongs to take centrestage.”

“The cast was decided by me. I wanted a girl who looked contemporary, yet traditional in Bengali attire, and another girl who looked like a hip Bengali. Who better than Raima and Riya?”

Ganguly says the story revolves around two boys and two girls. “Riya is an NRI settled in the US. Raima stays in Kolkata. Shyan comes to Kolkata to commercialise folk Bengali music, while Param, who feels that Kolkata is a black hole, flies off to the US to join a software company.”

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