Trailer: Anacondas, Crocodiles, Sunken Ships Abound in Bengali Adventure Film AMAZON OBHIJAAN

While Indian cinema still remains toplined by Hindi cinema to overseas audiences, the fact is that India now lives in a post-Baahubali world, where regional cinemas are regularly churning out films that could give Hindi cinema a run for their money. The Bengali film industry, based out of Kolkata, is one such industry that reportedly churns out at least a hundred films every year. These films are made with budgets ranging from INR 70 lakh to INR 3 crore, which seriously curtail the subjects these films can tackle.

However, in recent years, SVF Entertainment has been trying to up the ante when it comes to big-screen experiences for the Bengali audiences. Formerly known as Shree Venkatesh Films, they adapted Chander Pahar (Mountain Of The Moon), a much-beloved novel written by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay, into a big-screen spectacle that was directed by Kamaleswar Mukherjee. Shot in South Africa, the film cost around INR 15 crore to make, and was a reminder to everyone that Bengali cinema could churn out its own blockbuster adventure franchise. The film starred Dev Adhikari, one of Bengali cinema's biggest superstars, and released in 2013 to a bumper response.

Today, that's old news. Mukherjee has now helmed Amazon Obhijaan (Amazon Adventure), a sequel in spirit to the earlier film, but based on an original story he's written himself. While Adhikari expectedly reprises his character of Shankar from the earlier film, the trailer, made at around INR 20 crore, is a jaw-dropping visual spectacle shot in the Amazon rainforest. In the film, Shankar goes into another expedition, and expectedly faces danger wherever he goes. With anacondas, sunken ships, poisoned arrows et al serving as potent obstacles, this is supposed to play out like a high-stakes drama. and expectedly the action sequences are downright bonkers There are certain shots where the VFX becomes painfully obvious, but that's just nitpicking.

SVF has also taken the trouble of getting the film dubbed in 5 other languages--a first for any Bengali film. The movie is supposed to release on December 22, 2017 in Bengali, Assamese, Odia, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Whether an English dub comes out someday still remains to be seen.