Aparna Sen’s Arshinagar Trailer with English Subtitles

Aparna Sen’s latest film, adapted from that Shakespeare tale India so much loves and directed by her, has a trailer (even though there’s no IMDb page). Arshinagar is a modern adaptation of Romeo & Juliet set in West Bengal about young lovers that belong to different communities. Probably Hindus and Muslims, as the trailer mentions conversion.

The film comes at a time of increasing tension in the country when PM Modi’s government is being accused of increasing unfair treatment and violence against non-Hindus and non-higher-caste Hindus, so everyone’s walking on egg shells.

The film stars Dev (who-needs-a-last-name) and Rittika Sen as the title couple, and also counts with Jisshu Sengupta, Waheeda Rehman, Kaushik Sen, Jaya Seal Ghosh, Roopa Ganguly, Swagata Mukherjee, Paran Bandhyopadhyay, Anirban Bhattacharya, Shantilal Mukherjee, Kamaleswar Mukherjee, Sankar Chakraborty and Aparajita Adya.

Arshinagar comes on the steps of Bhansali’s adaptation Ram-Leela, and Habib Faisal’s Ishaqzaade, which also dealt with Hindu and Muslim communal relations with a twist. At the moment it looks okay, but I trust Sen as a storyteller and director to want to say something more with her material.

It will open on Christmas (!!) because nothing says “happy holidays!” than a tragic love story. LOL