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Shakib Khan's much-awaited movie Toofan, directed by Raihan Rafi has been released on Eid-ul-Adha and has created a buzz since its release. The film has been released in 15 countries and has also been released in India on Friday.
The Dhaka superstar attended the film's premiere show in Kolkata before its release. There he spoke about various issues related to Bengali cinema. Also present at the event were the film's director Raihan Rafi, actress Mimi Chakraborty, producer Shahriar Shakil and Toofan's international distributor and SVF producer Mahendra Soni.
Shakib Khan spoke about Bengali cinema and working in both Bengals, saying, “There are 30 to 40 crore Bengali-speaking people spread all over the world. We are not lagging in terms of numbers. In terms of language, the South, Malayalam and Punjabi film industries with a much smaller population are far ahead today. So why should we be behind? The great collaboration of the two Bengals is telling us that we are no longer behind. The proof of that is 'Toofan'.”
Shakib Khan further said, “The international journey of Bengali cinema began last year with films like 'Priyotoma' and 'Surango'. The extent of this was understood in 'Toofan'. Shows have been houseful in 6-7 countries without any posters. In a country like England, Bengali cinema is competing with Hindi and other films and is among the top four. This proves how much our Bengali cinema is progressing.”
On the issue of decreasing commercial films in the Tollywood industry compared to Bengali cinema, he said, “No big Bengali film has been made in Kolkata for a long time. This practice may have gone up. But I can say this much, a storm has risen in Bengal. Be it in this Bengal or that Bengal. One day we will compete with the big film industries of the world. One day we will say that our Bengali cinema is not behind either.”
Finally Shakib Khan said, “There is not much difference between commercial cinema and classical cinema. Now people want to see a good movie. All the commercial films that have been super hits have had a great story. It had all the elements that were needed. The same thing happened in the case of Toofan.”
Shakib Khan plays the role of a gangster from the 90s in Toofan. The film also stars veteran actor Chanchal Chowdhury. Produced jointly 'Toofan' stars, besides Shakib Khan and Chanchal, Mimi Chakraborty, Nabila, Misha Sawdagor and others.
