Cinema of West Bengal, also known as Tollywood or Bengali cinema, is an Indian film industry of Bengali-language motion pictures. It is based in the Tollygunge region of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The origins of the nickname Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge and Hollywood, dates back to 1932. It was a historically important film industry, at one time the centre of Indian film production. The Bengali film industry is known for producing many of Indian cinema's most critically acclaimed global Parallel Cinema and art films, with several of its filmmakers gaining prominence at the Indian National Film Awards as well as international acclaim.
Gaaner Oparey is an Indian Bengali television serial which aired on Star Jalsha from 28 June 2010 to 16 April 2011. This TV musical marked the beginning of a yearlong celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of the great Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. The concept was a brainchild of the Indian director Rituparno Ghosh. The songs were all popular Rabindra sangeets. Prosenjit Chatterjee launched an audio CD of its tracks on Mahalaya on 12 October 2015. On account of Rabindranath Tagore's 157th birthday, Star Jalsha added Gaaner Oparey on Disney+ Hotstar on 9 May 2018. It was re-aired on Star Jalsha during the 2020 lockdown period, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nusrat Jahan Ruhi is an Indian actress and politician who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. Beside the acting career, from 2019 to 2024, Jahan has represented as the Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Basirhat constituency as a Trinamool Congress candidate. Jahan's screen debut was in Raj Chakraborty's Shotru.
Meghe Dhaka Tara is a 2013 Indian Bengali film directed by Kamaleswar Mukherjee and made under Shree Venkatesh Films banners. The film is inspired from the life and works of Bengali film director Ritwik Ghatak. The entire film is in black and white except the last scene which has been shot in colour. In this film Saswata Chatterjee plays the character of Nilkantha Bagchi and Ananya Chatterjee plays the role of Durga, Nilkantha's wife. The film was released on 14 June 2013. Besides giving an account of Ghatak's life, the film also depicts the socio-political environment of contemporary West Bengal during the Tebhaga and Naxalite movements.
Bindaas is a 2014 Indian Bengali language social action drama film directed by Rajiv Kumar Biswas. It's a Shree Venkatesh Films production in association with Jalsha Movies Production. The film stars Dev, Sayantika Banerjee, Srabanti Chatterjee and Chiranjeet Chakraborty in lead roles. It is a remake of the 2013 Telugu film Mirchi.
Maa...Tomay Chara Ghum Asena, also called Maa, is a Bengali television serial broadcast on Star Jalsha. It was produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. The show narrates the bond between mother and daughter. It is one of the longest-running Bengali television series and Star Jalsha's longest-running serial.
Tomake Chai is a 2017 Indian Bengali romance film directed by Rajiv Kumar Biswas and produced by Shrikant Mohta and Mahendra Soni under the banner of Shree Venkatesh Films and Surinder Films. The film features Bonny Sengupta and Koushani Mukherjee in lead roles. It is a remake of award-winning 2011 Kannada movie Sanju Weds Geetha.
Dev is an Indian actor who works primarily in the Bengali film industry. He made his acting debut with the Bengali film Agnishapath. He later signed up Ravi Kinnagi's Bengali film I Love You.
Haami is a 2018 Bengali film directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee. The movie is produced by Windows and is distributed regionally by the same. As per the figures provided by trade magazine. Film Companion, it was the highest grosser in Bengali cinema in 2018. Haami is a tale of two friends, Bhutu and Chini, who comes from entirely different backgrounds. Before Haami, Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee came up with Ramdhanu which also dealt with the story of harried parents and what they go through in order to put their children in good schools. Haami could well be considered as a sequel to this, where Laltu and Mitali's characters are played by the same cast i.e. Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Gargi Roy Chowdhury. The Malayalam rights of the movie were acquired by Rajesh Nair, who made Salt Mango Tree, based on the same film.
Joyee is a Bengali television soap opera that premiered on 9 October 2017. It aired on Zee Bangla. It was produced by Tent Cinema and it starred Debadrita Basu and Dibyojyoti Dutta. It also presents Sanchari Mondal, Mimi Dutta, Tanuka Chatterjee, and Dwaipayan Das in supporting roles. The show replaced Raadha. Arun Bandyopadhyay is the main antagonist. The show went off air on 1 September 2019 and it was replaced by another show titled Alo Chhaya.
Saat Bhai Champa was an Indian Bengali fantasy television soap opera that premiered on 27 November 2017 and aired on Zee Bangla. It is produced by Surinder Films and stars Pramita Chakraborty, Rudrajit Mukherjee and Sudipta Banerjee. The show is dubbed in Hindi as "Shoorveer sister" which airs on Big Magic channel. The Odia dubbed version is aired on Zee Sarthak. It was premiered on 27 November 2017 and aired every day at 8:00 PM on Zee Bangla. It went off air on 3 March 2019 and it got replaced by Trinayani. It is based on the folktale of Saat Bhai Champa as collected in Thakurmar Jhuli by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder.
Jai Kali Kalkattawali is an Indian Bengali language anthology crime "Chalo Paltai" drama series that premiered on 24 July 2017 starring Ananya Chatterjee and Biswanath Basu. It was produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. It went off-air on 1 June 2019, airing 661 episodes. It was re-aired on Star Jalsha and Star Jalsha HD during lockdown period, due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Mahapeeth Tarapeeth was a Bengali mythological show that was aired on Star Jalsha and is also available on Disney+ Hotstar. The show narrates the origin of Tarapith shrine- the journey from fear to faith and chart the various phases of Maa Tara and Bamakhepa’s journey to fight against societal evils. This show was produced by Max Entertainment, Surinder Films.
Kori Khela is an Indian Bengali language drama television series broadcasting on the Bengali general entertainment channel Zee Bangla. It premiered from 8 March 2021 and starred by Sriparna Roy and Ananda Ghosh. The series is produced by Sumeet Mittal and Sumeet Mittal under the banner of Shashi Sumeet Productions. It is remake of Zee TV's Hindi series Punar Vivaah – Zindagi Milegi Dobara.
Jagaddhatri is an Indian Bengali language Romantic Thriller Drama television series that premiered from 29 August 2022 on Zee Bangla. The show is produced by Snehasish Chakraborty of Blues Productions and stars Ankita Mallick and Soumyadeep Mukherjee in lead roles.Currently,it is one of the most successful show of Bengali Television.
Abar Proloy is a 2023 Bengali crime thriller web series written and directed by Raj Chakraborty and produced by Raj Chakraborty Entertainment and Subhashree Ganguly. The show features an ensemble cast including Paran Bandopadhyay, Saswata Chatterjee, Ritwick Chakraborty, June Maliah, Koushani Mukherjee, Gaurav Chakrabarty, Sohini Sengupta. The series serves as a spin-off of the 2013 film Proloy and was released on the ZEE5 OTT platform on 11 August 2023.
Raktabeej is a 2023 Indian Bengali-language action thriller film co-written and directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee. The plot is mainly inspired from the true events of 2014 Burdwan Blast that deeply shook Bengal and the nation. The film stars Victor Banerjee, Abir Chatterjee and Mimi Chakraborty in the lead roles. This film is produced and distributed by Windows and presented by Sanjay Agarwal.
Kaantaye Kaantaye is Bengali suspense-thriller web-series directed by Joydeep Mukherjee and produced by Shyamsundar De. It is an adaptation of Narayan Sanyal's P. K. Basu series novel Sonar Kaanta, which is actually inspired by The Mousetrap of Agatha Christie. This is the second time P. K. Basu series has been adapted for the screen, the first time being in 1974 when Tarun Majumdar made Jadi Jantem featuring Uttam Kumar as the protagonist.
