Rituparna turns snake charmer

Kolkata : Filmmaker Anjan Das is ready with his next “Bedini”, starring Rituparna, Indranil Sengupta and Rajesh Sharma in the leads.

The film is an adaptation from Tarashankar Bandopadhyay’s acclaimed novel “Bedini” and is scheduled to release in January 2011.

The dusky snake charmer (Bedini) portrayed by Rituparna Sengupta is a story of a woman’s life filled with love, passion, lust and emotional outburst.

Veteran actress Supriya Devi (Benudi), along with her co-actors of the film, unveiled the official website of “Bedini” at a press meet here on Tuesday evening.

Supriya Devi said: “Literature based films were very scanty in the past decade, but recently it is becoming the backdrop of many Bengali films; which makes me feel glad, as Bengali film is regaining its lost glory”.

“Bedini is a literature-oriented film. And having read the novel, I know Anjanbabu has worked on a very tough subject”, Benudi said.

Speaking on playing a snake charmer, Rituparna said, “My character Radhika in very bold, packed with lust and desire. She migrates from one man to another. She is both constructive and destructive, which makes her fearless and audacious”.

“When Anjanda narrated me the novel of Tarashankar Bondopadhyay, I liked both the story and the script as it narrates the story of a dauntless women, her journey of life which revolves around a profession (snake charming) which is almost extinct today”, the actor said.

“Above all, my audiences and fans always want to see me doing something different in every film. And in this film, I worked with real snakes and came up holding a poisonous one, to give the character an authentic feel”, she said.

Director Anjan Das said: “Very few work is done on Bengali literature. Nijeder sahityo theke kichu tole dhorte parle khub valo lage (portraying something from our own Bengali literature makes me feel proud). So, I thought of making a film on this novel.”

“Rituparna, from the beginning was a firm choice for the character of ‘Radhika’. But for ‘Keshto’, I wanted someone with a mascular physique and Indranil suits the bill”, says the director.

“I never choose a film, rather a film chooses me. The story shows how a rivalry between Keshto and Radhika transforms into a love affair. I feel delighted being cast with an actress who is vast in her dimension and honoured to work under such a name in the field of direction,” said Indranil Sengupta.

The backdrop of the film “Bedini” is a remote Indian village, where the life of every character is intertwined as ‘Radhika’, the protagonist’s natural instinct of love and lust instigate her to search new partners which ultimately drives to a painful dramatic climax.