Problem for ‘Gunday’ in Bengal

The forthcoming Yash Raj Film (YRF) production, ‘Gunday’, which releases worldwide on Friday, seems to be creating a problem in Bengal.

To accommodate different regions of India, Hindi films are released in regional languages. However, when YRF prepared to release the Bengali version of ‘Gunday’, not everyone was satisfied. It has been reported, certain faces from the Bengal film industry didn’t take the film being released in Bengal so well. They protested against the portrayal of Calcutta in the film. Reports say that the Bengal industry feel that dubbed films take over the theatres which means Bengali films do not do so well.

Arun Mehra, a local distributor, told Hindustan Times, “It would occupy most of the theatres and Bengali films won�۪t get as big a release as they were enjoying so far.” However, Mehra believes ‘Gunday’ will do well as he added, “When we were releasing Krrish 3 or Chennai Express there, exhibitors asked us if we could release them in Bengali. Also, Gunday is based in Bengal. So it will have a better connect. ”

Rafiq Gangjee, official spokesperson of YRF he said, “Gunday is a story that resonates with the time and ethos of an era which Bengal went through. We believe that this story needed to be told. We plan to release it in Bengal and we do hope that people will appreciate the film and understand our motive for doing so. The release of the Bengali version will only help to grow the local market and not stifle it.”

Well, we will have to wait and see what is the Bengal audience’s take on the film.

By Jaymisha Gola