sen sisters in English flick!!

Sen sisters in English flick
Oct 22, 2005

Courtesy: Mid-Day

Riya and Raima Sen in the unreleased film Bachelor

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."

Plot

"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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