Soumik Haldar wears director’s cap for Prosenjit-Anirban starrer

Less than a week ago, Rahool Mukherjee posed with actors Prosenjit Chatterjee and Anirban Bhattacharya during the mahurat of his new Bengali film. But soon he had to step down as the director after the ‘Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India’ issued a three-month suspension notice against him due to issues related to a Bangladeshi project. As a result, the future of the film hung in the balance. On Monday, production house ‘SVF’ officially announced that cinematographer Soumik Halder will now take over as director, while Rahool will act as the creative producer.

“In light of recent developments and respecting guidelines from our stakeholders, we are excited to announce that Rahool Mukherjee has taken up the role of creative producer and Soumik Haldar has graciously accepted the director’s hat for our latest untitled project ‘Prod No. 171’,” the production house said in a statement.

For those unfamiliar with the situation, last year the Bangladeshi OTT platform ‘Chorki’ announced projects in Kolkata, including one titled ‘Lahu’, directed by Rahool Mukherjee. However, disagreements arose between the Federation and ‘Chorki’ overpayment regulations. As a result, the shooting was halted in Kolkata. Rahool and his team then proceeded to Bangladesh to complete the filming, which didn’t go down well with the Federation. They took the issue to the ‘Directors’ Guild’ and after discussions, Rahool was issued a three-month suspension.

Meanwhile, the yet-to-be-titled film is reportedly a retake of the Tamil film ‘Garudan’ and features Priyanka Sarkar, Surajit Banerjee and Aparajita Adhya in important roles. Following the success of Srijit Mukherji’s cop drama ‘Dawshom Awbotaar’ last year Durga Puja, which starred Prosenjit and Anirban, the production house wishes to capitalise on the pair’s popularity once again.