Kyon, Ray?

Remakes seem to be the flavour of the season, but shouldn't there be some classics that should be sacrosanct? They remade Don, Sholay, Karz… So far, so good. But who would have thought about recreating Satyajit Ray's 1964 Bengali classic Charulata? Apparently London-based filmmaker Amitabh Neil Ray has bravely decided to film his own version of the classic. He is making the film in Hindi and English. Does the fact that he shares his last name with the legendary filmmaker (no, he isn't a relative) have anything to do with it?

Anyway, make it, he will. In Charulata we had the beautiful and talented Madhabi Mukherjee doing full justice to the title role. In the remake, Rituparna Sengupta is slated to do the honours. There's more. Charulata's famous lover Amal, originally played by Soumitra Chatterjee will be played by Keshu Ramsay's son, Aryeman. (For those who are in the dark, Aryeman had made his Bollywood debut in a film called Family.)

Charulata is based on Rabindranath Tagore's story Nasta Nirh (the broken nest). If sources are to be believed, Irrfan Khan will play Charulata's husband Bhupati, who was portrayed by Sailen Mukherjee in the original.

A source close to Amitabh, says, “Let's not say that Charulata per se is being made. But yes, Amitabh has definitely been hugely inspired by Satyajit Ray's film. There will be a few modifications to suit the present times.”

When contacted, Amitabh says, “I wouldn't term my film as a remake of Satyajit's Charulata. Like Satyajit's story was an adaptation of Tagore's Nasta Nirh, mine is also an adaptation of Tagore's story. The story remains almost the same. However, I have changed the names of Bhupati and Amal. They will now be called Anupam and Aakash respectively. All the characters in my film are modern and educated, unlike the ones in Satyajit's film.”

Aryeman chips in, “I have not seen the original. I am going to see it in the next few days. Thereafter, I'll start working on Aakash's character.”

Amitabh will shoot his version of Charulata in New York, Canada and some portions in India.


About Charulata
Satyajit's Charulata was set in the nineteenth century Kolkata. The film story revolved around Charulata (Madhabi Mukherjee), the childless, intelligent and beautiful wife of Bhupati (Sailen Mukherjee). Bhupati is an upper class Bengali intellectual with a keen interest in politics and the freedom movement. He edits and publishes a political newspaper.

Charu is interested in the arts, literature and poetry. Though Bhupati loves his wife, he has no time for her. She has little to do in the house run by a fleet of servants. Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), Bhupati's younger cousin comes on a visit. Bhupati asks him to encourage Charu's cultural interests. Amal is young, handsome and is of the same age group as Charu. He has literary ambitions and shares her interests in poetry. He provides her with much needed intellectual companionship and attention. An intimate relationship develops between Charulata and Amal.

Source: mumbaimirror.com