Bagha Jatin is a 2023 Indian biographical period action drama film written and directed by Arun Roy. The film is produced by Dev and Gurupada Adhikari under Dev Entertainment Ventures. The film stars Dev as the title character with Sreeja Dutta, Sudipta Chakraborty, Shoaib Kabeer, Rohaan Bhattacharjee, Carl A. Harte and Alexandra Taylor in pivotal roles. The film is based on the life of Bagha Jatin, a freedom fighter who fought for Indian independence along with fellow members of the Jugantar. The film features a total of 92 freedom fighters.
It was released in theaters during Durga Puja on 19 October 2023 in Bengali language and on 20 October in Hindi dubbed version.
Cast
Dev as Jatindranath Mukherjee, known as Bagha Jatin, Indian independence activist. Sreeja Dutta as Indubala Banerjee, Bagha Jatin's wife. Sudipta Chakraborty as Binodbala, Bagha Jatin's elder sister. Samiul Alam as Kshudiram Bose, Indian revolutionary. Sajal Mondal as Arabindo Ghose, journalist, editor of newspapers such as Bande Mataram Kallol De as Ullaskar Dutta, a figure in the Indian subcontinent's anti-British independence movement. Sumanta Roy as Hemchandra Kanungo, Indian nationalist and a member of the Anushilan Samiti. Rohaan Bhattacharjee as Chittapriya Ray Chaudhuri, Bengali revolutionary and member of the Indian independence movement. Carl A. Harte as Charles Tegart, Irish police officer who served extensively in British India and Palestine. Alexandra Taylor Shoaib Kabeer as Manoranjan Sengupta Bhaskar Mukherjee as M. N. Roy Kolaj Sengupta as Rash Behari Bose Raju Bera as Prafulla Chaki Biswajit Naskar as Kanailal Dutta Ujjwal Ghosh as Charu Chandra Bose Anirban Paitandi as Nirendranath Dasgupta Abhirup Chowdhury as Birendranath Dutta Gupta Shrimanta Chakraborty as Shrish Chandra Mitra Arohi Bakhuli as Ashalata Mukherjee, Bagha Jatin's daughter Gurshaan Singh Kohli as Kartar Singh Sarabha, Indian revolutionary. Sandip Ghosh as Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Indian revolutionary and journalist. Arijit Bhusan Bagchi as Ashu Biswas, Alipur Goverment's Lawyer. Konkona Haldar
Production
Development
In July 2022, director Arun Roy told Anandabazar Online about writing the script for the Bagha Jatin. He said that "I have been writing about Bagha Jatin for the last one and a half years. I don't know anything more than that." At this time, it is also known that the shooting of the film will begin from October. On 15th August 2022, The film was officially announced on the occasion of India's 75th Independence Day.
Bagha Jatin is a biographical film, that covers the life of real-life Indian revolutionary Bagha Jatin and his fight against the British Raj. Dev played the role of Bagha Jatin, the central character of the film. The film explores the events of the last two decades of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century.
Casting
It was announced in July 2022 that Dev would play the lead role of Bagha Jatin in the film. Auditions were held to select the actress for the role of Indubala Banerjee in the film Bagha Jatin, produced by Dev Entertainment and directed by Arun Roy. Auditions were conducted by the director and production company by visiting various colleges in West Bengal. About 6 thousand girls auditioned, out of which Sreeja Dutta was selected. Samiul Alam was selected for the role of revolutionary Kshudiram Bose. Australian actor Carl A. Hart was selected to play the role of Charles Tegart, Deputy Commissioner of the Calcutta Police.
Filming
Principal photography took place in the Baripada forest, Odisha and Kolkata. The Baripada forest in Odisha were selected for the scenes of the Battle of Buribalam. Recce was done in November 2022 for site selection. In February 2023, the shooting started in the Birpara forest. But, during the shooting for an action scene, Dev suffered an eye injury, due to which the shooting was stopped for few days. Dev was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai for treatment. Birpara jungle scene work resumed in May.
The imprisonment of many revolutionaries in Kolkata's Alipore Jail was filmed. A British period prison environment was recreated for the scene at Alipore Jail.
Soundtrack
The music of the film has been has been composed by Nilayan Chatterjee. The lyrics have also been written by Nilayan Chatterjee.
The first single was released on 23 September 2023. The second single was released on 30 September 2023. The third single was released on 7 October 2023. The fourth single was released on 15 October in Bengali and was released on 16 October in Hindi.