Jackie to star in Raat Porir Rupkatha

The actor will play a widower in the Bengali film, which will be directed by Sanghamitra Chaudhuri.

Jackie Shroff is coming back to Kolkata. The actor is slated to start shooting for his second Bengali film, (his first was Rituparno Ghosh’s Antar Mahal) from November 27.

He plays a widower in Sanghamitra Chaudhuri’s Raat Porir Rupkatha. “When I was scripting the film, I couldn’t think of anybody other than Jackie. In fact, I was inspired by his portrayal of Chuni Babu in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas,” says Chaudhuri.

The film also stars Indrani Halder, Aparajita Ghosh Das and elocutionist Jagannath Basu. “The character itself is very strong — of a widower who falls in love with a sex worker in Sonagachi, the red light area in Kolkata,” adds Jackie from Mumbai.

Over the last two years, Jackie has been quite busy and his forthcoming films include Sangeeth Sivan’s Apna Sapna Money Money, Ahmed Khan’s Fool’n’ Final and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya —The Royal Guard.

Indrani Halder plays Rajani, the sex worker, and Jackie’s character is called Kamal babu. Jackie wants to visit Sonagachi and spread the message of AIDS awareness when he is here. “It is a subject that is quite close to my heart,” he says.

Chaudhuri wants to finish the film by December so that it is ready for release by March next year.

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