Exclusive! Aranyer Din Ratri: After Ray, Arun Roy to make a film with Sunil Ganguly’s novel with Jeetu Kamal and Sohini Sarkar in the lead

Filmmaker Arun Roy has his hands full. Along with Dev, he will start shooting for Bagha Jatin in November. However, on the birth anniversary of author Sunil Gangopadhyay, the director announced his next project, Aranyer Din Ratri. The film will feature Jeetu Kamal, Sohini Sarkar, Arna Mukhopadhyay, Kinjal Nanda and Anushka Chakraborty. The film is scheduled to go on the floors in February 2023 and is expected to be released in Puja next year. 

In 1970, Satyajit Ray immortalised the novel with his eponymous film that features Soumitra Chatterjee, Samit Bhanja, Shamila Tagore, Simi Garewal, Shubhendu Chattopadhyay, Rabo Ghosh and others. However, Arun specifically clarified that his film is a tribute to author Sunil Gangopadhyay and has little to do with Ray’s classic. “I am making the film out of my love for the novel. He penned it decades ago and every chapter of the book is still extremely contemporary. My film is in today’s time and yet I barely needed to change anything. Every single chapter seems contemporary. This is not based on the film that we watched. It is my take on the novel,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Arun is also busy with his magnum opus, Bagha Jatin with Dev. “We will start shooting on November 15 and the preproduction work is in full swing. Aranyer Din Ratri will begin in February next year and we are aiming to release it in Puja,” he said.

The director and the cast unveiled the first look of the film on Wednesday. In 2003, Goutam Ghose directed a sequel, Abar Aranye, with Soumitra Chatterjee, Tabu, Sharmila Tagore, Shubhendu Chatterjee and others.