Prosenjit Chatterjee to play lead in Srijit Mukherjee’s adaption of Sankar’s novel, Chowringhee

Begum Jaan director Srijit Mukherjee plans to adapt Shankar’s novel Chowringhee with Prosenjit Chatterjee in the lead role and will set the story in the current times.

Director and screenwriter Srijit Mukherjee has decided to adapt Shankar’s classic 1962 novel Chowringhee for his next film. The film, with Prosenjit Chatterjee in the lead, will be set in the present day, the Begum Jaan director said recently.

A cover of Shankar’s classic novel Chowringhee.

It would not be a remake of the 1968 Bengali film Chowringhee, where Uttam Kumar had been cast in the lead role of Sata Bose, he said. “My next venture would be a contemporary take on the novel and not a period film. I am in love with the city. It has a character of its own. Most of my films had in past sought to capture the city - its buildings and people. Chowringhee is a timeless novel,” the director said.

‘Chowringhee’ tells the story of myriad people of an upper class city hotel as seen by its receptionist.

Author Mani Shankar Mukherjee, who writes under the pseudonym of better Shankar, expressed hope that Mukherjee would retain the spirit of the original novel. “I believe Srijit will retain the essence of the original work, published in 1962,” he said.

The shooting for the film will begin from July-August this year, he added.

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