Biopic on inventor of rosogolla to hit theatres next year

KOLKATA: THE PRODUCERS HAVE SELECTED 2018 AS THE YEAR OF ITS RELEASE AS IT WILL MARK THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE GI TAG AND ALSO IT WILL BE THE SWEET’S 150TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY

After West Bengal got the Geographical Indications (GI) tag for its rosogolla, efforts are on to make a biopic on Nobin Chandra Das, a famous sweetmeat maker who is believed to have invented the dessert in 1868.

The film is set to hit the theatres in December next year.

The producers have selected 2018 as the year of its release as it will mark the anniversary of the GI tag and also it will be the 150th birth anniversary of rosogolla, considering that this popular sweetmeat was invented by Das in 1868.

The producer of the film, also titled “Rosogolla”, will be Windows Production. The film will be directed by Pavel, whose lowbudget film, Babar Naam Gandhiji (Father’s name is Gandhiji) earned critics accolades.

Speaking to HT, one of the founder- producers of Windows Production, Nandita Roy said the film was conceptualised almost two years back.

“We felt that something needs to be done to make people aware of rosogolla’s inventor,” Nandita told HT. She added that though basically the film will be a biopic of Nobin Chandra Das, it will also depict everything about rosogolla, including Bengali’s sentiment about it and sequence of events.

She, however, said the proposed movie will not be a starstudded one. “Through this film, we will also launch new acting talents, the search for which is already on,” she said.

According to Pavel, since the beginning he was confident that ultimately Bengal would win the battle. “Rosogolla was always Bengal’s and it has been proved,” he said.

“Nobin Chandra Das invented the sweet in 1868. He was trying to come up with a new sweet for a number of years before he came up with it. He never thought of trying for a patent on the sweet but taught confectioners how to prepare it,” Nobin Chandra Das’ greatgreat-grandson Dhiman Das said. For years, the Das family was recognised as the first family of the state’s sweetmeat industry mainly due to its claim on the parentage on rosogolla.

The Mamata Banerjee administration had applied for the GI authentication in 2015.