The new, improved avatar of RPG's film wing

Today's Telegraph (Metro), to the delight of people like us viewers, tells us about Kolkata-based RPG Enterprises' newly restructured film and TV business. They are making a fresh start in Tollygunge after two debacles in Bengali- Mantra by Rabi Ranjan Maitra and Swapno by successful mainstream director Haranath Chakraborty starring the reigning king of Bengali cinema- Prosenjit.

They have divided the film business into three units to remain focussed- Bengali films, Hindi films and South Indian films (Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam). Aparna Sen, the head of Bengali films and television content, will produce Bengali films on their behalf. Her unit will start with her English-Bengali project The Japanese Wife (Japani Bouma in Bengali) starring Rahul Bose, Raima Sen and a Japanese actress to be shot in Sunderbans and Japan apart from Kolkata. The Hindi unit, headed by BR Sharan, will make Rituparno Ghosh's Draupadi.

Like a true corporate in film business, there will be a creative team under Aparna for screening and greenlighting scripts submitted by filmmakers and aspiring filmmakers.

Rather than a being more of a financier, RPG will be an active producer by bringing a quality control function to making films among other things, again a corporate characteristic. Aparna will be mentoring young directors, help them with the script (An area of her expertise by her own admission), cast & crew and in the process taking away a lot of problems that a director generally faces. This will ensure the director is focussed on his film. The aim is to marry quality with economic viability. They are now open to receiving scripts.

Later they will make content for Bengali television.

Looks like a dream come true for almost-starved viewers of meaningful Bengali cinema. Also talented telefilm directors, like Parambrata and many others, who rue about lack of opportunities in Tollygunge for fulfilling their big screen dreams, will now have a place to look forward to.

Anuranan

Since I first heard about Anuranan- the upcoming Bengali film, I got interested. Here is why-

1. It has Rahul Bose as one of the protagonists. He has a proven ability of picking good films.
2. The cast also includes Rajat Kapoor and Raima Sen who are known to be selective about projects.
3. It was to be shot in London. That is interesting in itself. Bengali film and London? Never dreamt.
4. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, a Mumbai-based adman as a director. Sounds interesting.
5. Based on marital relationships of two couples. The men are successful professionals, the women are educated, urban homemakers. One can quite relate to the subject. Hence what kind of treatment it gets wil be one point of curiosity.
6. This one is brand-new. I just discovered its website- www.anuranan.com. Again something unique. A Bengali film, regardless however educated and knowledgeable the director/ producer is, rarely has a website. We are still ages behind Mumbai in promoting a film. And what a surprise !! The site is well-designed and navigation is seamless. A website can promote a film in the most cost-effective manner to the potential audience, but hardly I come across a good film website. Most are not user-friendly or limited to just a homepage. Content is pathetic. But this one (Anuranan's) is refreshingly different. A lot of care in designing it is visible. I urge everybody interested in the film and reading this to check out the website.