Bengali film teaser shown at prestigious WAVES in Mumbai
The Statesman | 8 May 2025
The historical epic Devi Chowdhurani: Bandit Queen of Bengal was showcased as a teaser at WAVES 2025 (World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit).
The film is the first official Indo-UK co-production almost on the verge of completion under the Audio Visual Co-Production Agreement between India and the United Kingdom.
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India’s first World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025, which concluded on 4 May, was held at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The summit witnessed participation from over 90 countries.
The event was attended by the film’s lead producers, Aniruddha Dasgupta (co-founder, ADited Motion Pictures, USA/India) and Soumyajit Majumdar (founder, LOK Arts Collective, India/UK), who spoke about the unique cross-continental collaboration, the adaptation process of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s original novel, and the cultural significance of the film.
The film, in Bengali with English subtitles, is directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Subhrajit Mitra.
Prosenjit Chatterjee plays Bhavani Pathak and Srabanti Chatterjee in the titular role.
Set in 18th-century Bengal during the height of the sanyasi-fakir rebellion, Devi Chowdhurani… tells the untold story of India’s earliest female-led armed resistance against colonial oppression. Adapted from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s seminal novel and interwoven with documented historical accounts.
Shot across real locations in West Bengal’s, outskirts of Kolkata, Hooghly, Birbhum, Purulia, Bihar, Jharkhand, the film is ready for release.
Talking about the film, the director said: “This is significant as the film is based on a novel which was banned by the British, which was lifted only after Independence.”