Director Kamaleshwar Mukhodpadhayay’s latest work Chander Pahar, based on Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay’s 1909 novel of the same name, broke all the past box office records of Kolkata film industry popularly known as Tollywood. After 50 days of successful run, the film managed to collect over Rs 15crore which is the biggest ever estimate for a Tollywood movie.
Dev and Koyel starrer Paglu was the previous most successsful film which collected around Rs 10crore.
Claimed to be the biggest budget film of Tollywood, Chander Pahar is still running in a few cinemas and after adding the satellite rights, the film might touch 20crore landmark, said celebrated trade analyst Taran Adarsh
The storyline follows Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s classic novella set in 1909 quite closely, with some necessary adjustments. So the gutsy Diego Alvarez, played by Gerard Rudolf, is shown as hailing from Portuguese Chinsurah, which is why he can speak a smattering of Bengali. No such deviations are needed for Shankar though. Just as in the book, Dev’s character is a dreamer who wants to travel the world. His journey takes him on an incredible path from his quiet Bengali village to the heart of Africa in search of a fabled diamond mine.
The film has been extensively shot in South Africa.
This opportunity of a lifetime to play the role of Shankar in the film was quite challenging and tough, said Dev in an interview.
“The journey to the shooting spot was quite an adventurous experience as the crew had to walk through narrow lanes between rivers, cliffs & the forests full of snakes, insects and wild animals.”
From rock climbing to diving to crossing a river full of crocodiles, Dev learnt all the stunts required. Not only that, he also took a conscious decision to detach himself completely from the outside world to get into the skin of the character.
