KOLKATA: Durga Puja is the biggest festival of West Bengal. Every year, along with the festivities, every Bengali looks forward to the Puja releases. Production house SVF has released two Bengali films—Byomkesh Gowtro and Ek Je Chhilo Raja—nationally today, on the same day as their regional release.

Helmed by Arindam Sil, Byomkesh Gowtro revolves around the popular Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi, who prefers the term ‘Satyanweshi’ to detective, as it means ‘truth seeker’, which is his motive. Arindam is returning with a Byomkesh film after two years. This year, the story that inspired the film is Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s ‘Raakter Daag’ from his ‘Byomkesh Shomogro’ (series).

Abir Chatterjee will be seen as Byomkesh Bakshi. The actor has been portraying Bakshi since 2010. The other actors playing pivotal roles in the film include Anjan Dutt, Sohini Sarkar, Arjun Chakrabarty, Rahul Banerjee, Harsh Chhaya, Baishakhi Marjit, and Saurasheni Maitra.

Ek Je Chhilo Raja is directed by National Award winning director Srijit Mukherji, who is known for his sentimental and intriguing choice of stories. It is based on the controversial Bhawal Sanyasi case, which rocked the nation—the 16-year-old long battle between the man claiming to be Bhawal Raja (who had died because of syphilis and returned from the dead) and his wife and brother-in-law (who asserted to have witnessed his death and refused to believe this).

The protagonist’s role is being essayed by Jisshu U Sengupta. Aparna Sen, Rudranil Ghosh, Jaya Ahsan, Anjan Dutt, Anirban Bhattacharya, and Rajnandini Paul are also important parts of this film.