MUMBAI: SVF, Eastern India’s largest movie production house recently organized an international Bengali cinema carnival in Bangkok with much fanfare. The star-studded, glitzy carnival, held in the Thai capital, will air exclusively on Star Jalsha on Sunday (February 25), a must-watch for anyone who is interested in Bengali cinema. It is yet another first from SVF, which ensured that Bengali filmdom finally landed on foreign shores.

From Dev to Ankush, Mimi to Nusrat and Imon to Jeet Gannguli, the Tollywood stars, singers and musicians were all there, singing, dancing and milling around, rubbing shoulders with one another. If Shruti Pathak started with the song Shubharambh, Nakash Aziz’s Jabra Fan, Lagnajita’s Basanto Eshe Geche and Jeet’s Chinte Parli Na, had the audience in raptures.

While Sayantika grooved to superhits like Tamma Tamma and Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast as well as Phoolkoli and Remix Qawali; Nusrat performed on Aayat from the movie BajiraoMastani as well as Ami Je KeTomar’s title track. Yash made the fans go crazy when he danced to the peppy Mon from the movie Total Dadagiri and Thik Emon Ebhabe; Mimi was seen dancing to the biggest party numbers of 2017 – Kar Gayi Chull and Senorita, as well as Emotional Saiyaan and Honey Bunny while Ankush chipped in with performances on Shona, Take it Easy and Darling and more.

The first Bengali international film carnival was not just about songs and dances, though. It paid rich tributes to ‘Yesteryear Actresses’ such as Suchitra Sen, Supriya Devi, Madhabi Mukherjee, Tanuja, Aparna Sen and Sandhya Roy. The tribute was brought alive by Rituparna Sengupta who danced to the numbers of the films these legendary actresses starred in.

SVF co-founder & Director, Mahendra Soni said “It’s an attempt from us to take Bengali cinema to the international scene by organizing the carnival in the city of Bangkok, something very few have thought of before. We are sure that people will enjoy watching this magnificent show on Star Jalsha on Sunday evening. The show will have a red carpet segment from 6 PM to 7 PM, followed by a 4-hour performance based show till 11 PM,”

Dev brought the house down, dancing to Party Shoes and Bhojo Gournango (from the SVF-produced Bindass and Challenge), while Rituparna Sengupta danced to numbers like E Shudhu Ganer Din and AajMon Chheyeche Ami HariyeJabo, rekindling nostalgia that seeped in through the first-ever carnival of its kind.